The DGCA Issued New Guidelines for Air Passengers, Made Face Masks Mandatory; Details here

• Image Credit: Internet

• Jun 8, 2022 | Kabir Chakraborty

"The airline shall make regular announcements for awareness among the passengers on the need to follow appropriate covid behaviour such as hand hygiene, wearing masks, etc. during travel," the DGCA stated.

Digital
Desk: In view of rising coronavirus cases in the country, the
aviation regulator body DGCA on Wednesday issued fresh guidelines and said passengers
who do not wear masks on flights could be treated as' unruly'.

"The airlines must
ensure that all passengers properly wear face masks and continue to wear the
mask throughout the flight. However, the face masks can be removed under
exceptional circumstances and for permitted reasons only, " the DGCA said
in its guidelines.

The DGCA further added that
passengers would be removed from the aircraft before departure if found without
a face mask and not following appropriate covid-19 behaviour.

Moreover, the civil aviation
regulator DGCA also added that the CISF personnel would enforce mask guidelines
at the airports. However, the DGCA permitted mask removal only under
exceptional circumstances.

"In case any passenger
on board refuses to wear a mask or violates the 'Covid Protocol for passengers'
even after repeated warnings, such passenger will be treated as an 'Unruly
Passenger," the DGCA informed in its latest directives issued in line with
the Delhi High Court's June 3 order.

The DGCA stated that the
airlines must ensure that passengers are aware of the preventive measures
through their websites, travel agents, call centres, displays at airports,
assistance booths, etc.

"The airline shall make
regular announcements for awareness among the passengers on the need to follow
appropriate covid behaviour such as hand hygiene, wearing masks, etc. during
travel," the DGCA stated.

The civil aviation
regulatory body further added that the airlines would make arrangements for
extra face masks and provide them to the passengers.

"The airline shall
ensure that if any passenger does not adhere to the above instructions even
after repeated warnings, he/she should be de-boarded, if need be, before
departure," the civil aviation regulator added.

Notably, the latest order
from DGCA came when daily coronavirus infections in India were recorded above
5,000 after 93 days, taking the total tally of COVID cases to 43 million, while
the active cases rose to 28,857.