Government bans meals on domestic flights of less than 2 hrs | Fusion - WeRIndia

India reported the highest single-day COVID-19 cases on Monday. The COVID-19 cases have been rising in the country for the past two months.

In the wake of alarming coronavirus cases, the Indian government banned in-flight meals on all domestic flights that have less than two hours of journey.

The Union Civil Aviation Ministry issued fresh orders on this. The complete details are as follows:

• As per the new orders, flights provide meals to their passengers only if the travel duration is more than two hours.
• Airlines have to use disposable plates and cups to serve meals and beverages. They have to make sure that pre-packaged snacks, meals and beverages are served to the passengers. While in-flight meals will be served on disposable plates, beverages will be offered in disposable cups.
• Since the usage of disposable cutlery and plates is recommended, it will help improve hygiene.
• Used rotatable shall be cleaned and disinfected thoroughly before reusing them.
• All these disposable and rotatable trays and cutleries have to be disposed off properly by crew members.
• Crew members have to wear fresh gloves for each serving of meals and beverages.
• Though flight journey is considered safe than other modes of travel, serving of meals may increase the risk as passengers remove masks while consuming food and beverages.
• Several passengers take their masks off during their flight journey to the maximum extent possible in the name of food consumption. Removal of mask increases the risk of transmission.
• Hence, the government decided to ban in-flight meals and beverages on domestic flights of less than two hours of travel time.
• Some people welcomed this move. They suggested the cutoff journey time should be longer than three hours to improve more security and reduce the risk.

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