As novel coronavirus cases surge in the country to breach record highs in single-day tallies for the past few days, the Aviation Ministry on Monday banned in-flight meals on flights having a duration of less than 2 hours.
The amended norms to come into effect from April 15, the fresh order stated. For flights longer than 2 hours, the servicing of meals will be staggered among adjacent seats, it added.
The development comes after India reported close to 1.70 lakh Covid-19 cases on Monday. It’s the highest single-day tally since the outbreak of the pandemic. With this, India has surpassed Brazil to record the second-highest number of virus cases.
As many as 1,68,912 more people tested positive for COVID-19 across the country in the last 24 hours, taking the cumulative caseload to 1,35,27,717, said the Union health ministry on Monday morning.
Recently, Aviation regulator DGCA had approved 18,843 flights per week from 108 airports for the summer schedule, which begins on the last Sunday of March and ends on the last Sunday of October.
The number of flights for this year’s summer schedule has been approved keeping in mind that airlines are permitted to operate not more than 80 per cent of their pre-COVID flights.
Surjitt Sahani
