The DGCA has also said that passengers who do not observe the Covid19 guidelines despite repeated warnings from the airline staff should be treated as an ‘unruly passenger’ and must be taken off the flight.
Amidst the rising number of Coronavirus cases in the country, the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) has issued a fiat to all airlines to deboard passengers who are not complying with the Covid-19 guidelines including wearing face mask properly and maintaining physical distance on the flight, news agency ANI reported. The DGCA has also said that passengers who do not observe the Covid19 guidelines despite repeated warnings from the airline staff should be treated as an ‘unruly passenger’ and must be taken off the flight.
The brief two-page letter signed by Joint Director General, DGCA Sunil Kumar has clarified that all passengers must keep their face mask on properly during all the time of their stay on the flight and at the airport. Highlighting instances where passengers are seen wearing face masks in an improper manner(exposing their nose and mouth), the DGCA official asked the airlines to adequately warn such passengers first and take proper action against such passengers if they don’t pay heed to the warnings.
In a similar measure, the DGCA has also asked the Central Industrial Security Forces (CISF) which man the airports and other airport authorities to take note of delinquent passengers and warn them to follow Covid-19 guidelines seriously on the premises of the airport.
The DGCA also said that airlines must enforce the guidelines diligently in all cases barring exceptional situations where patients need to take off their face mask due to some clinical or extreme health situation. Health experts have highlighted that the recent surge of new Coronavirus cases in the country are the result of delinquent behaviour of people and complacency towards the Covid-19 pandemic.
