1. INTRODUCTION

On March 24th, 20201, the Government of India initiated a nationwide lockdown for a period of 21 (twenty-one) days, limiting movement of the general public as a preventive measure to contain the spread of COVID-19 pandemic in India. The lockdown was further followed by a series of enforcement of other regulations in the country's COVID-19 affected regions.

Since the current pandemic of COVID-19 in India continues to be a cause of concern, Directorate General of Civil Aviation ("DGCA") issued a circular2 with respect to operations by carriers operating with scheduled operator permits, non-scheduled operator permit, and private aircraft respectively, which were restricted to operate any commercial flights within India. International operations of airlines were restricted on the same date, although the DGCA had been progressively winding down the restrictions from before according to the country level restrictions either from India or abroad. Pursuant to the circular issued by DGCA, the only exempted categories of air operations were cargo and other emergencies, including medical emergencies.

The lockdown period commenced from March 24th, 2020, which was further extended on April 14th, 2020, until May 3rd, 2020, with a conditional relaxation after April 2020 for the regions where the spread had been contained. On May 1st, 2020, the Government of India extended the nationwide lockdown further by 2 (two) weeks until May 17th, 2020. The DGCA, in view of the prevailing situation has decided to suspend all commercial operations3,4 of the airlines till the lockdown is in force. On May 20th, 2020, the Ministry of Home Affairs issued an order5 amending the guidelines on lockdown and thereby allowing domestic air travel of the passengers. Accordingly, the Ministry of Civil Aviation ("MOCA") on May 21st, 2020, issued an order6 ("Order") for gradual recommencing domestic air travel of passengers with effect from May 25th, 2020 with augmentation of flights to be done in a calibrated manner. The Order further recommends certain precautionary measures in the form of general instructions, guidelines to be followed by passengers and specific operating procedures for stakeholders like airlines, airport operators, ground handling agencies, etc. to ensure the safety of the passengers during the prevailing circumstances due to COVID-19.

In the view of the same, Specific Operating Procedures ("SOPs") have been annexed to the Order in the form of guidelines or relative do's and don'ts with detailed actions points under which various stakeholders like State Government, airport operators or terminals, security agencies, health officials, airlines cabin crew and passengers traveling in the aircraft are required to ensure compliance of such action points. The stakeholders are required to help in the prevention of COVID-19, once scheduled operating carriers are permitted to resume their commercial operations. While these guidelines are mainly important for the passengers traveling in the aircraft, listed below are certain 'do's and don'ts' which are equally important for other stakeholders involved in the process.

While coming up with the SOPs, reliance would have been placed upon certain guidelines in this regard which are issued by various international authorities. Such guidelines are:

  1. Airport Preparedness Guidelines for Outbreaks of Communicable Disease issued by Airport Council International and International Civil Aviation Organization, revised April 2009;
  2. COVID Medical Evidence for Strategies 200421/CAAC- CAAC- Preventing Spread or Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) Guideline for Airports – 4th Edition;
  3. Security screening best practices during COVID-19- ACI Advisory Bulletin- March 2020;
  4. Airport-Operational-Practice-Examples-for Managing-COVID-19- ACI;
  5. IATA Guidance on Cabin Operations during and post-pandemic – Edition 1 22 April 2020;
  6. COVID Medical Evidence for Strategies 200421;
  7. EASA Guidelines – COVID-19;
  8. Guidance on Management of Crew Members in relation to the SAR-CoV-2 pandemic-issue no:01, issue Guidance on Management of Crew Members in relation to the SAR-CoV-2 pandemic-issue no: 01, issue date: 26/03/2020/SUSPECTED COMMUNICABLE DISEASE;
  9. Guideline for Crew, IATA Dec 2O17/FAA-COVID-19: Updated-Interim Occupational Health and Safety Guidance for Air Carriers and Crews. SAFO US DOT April 2020/IATA;
  10. WHO Operational Considerations for managing COVID-19 cases or outbreak; and
  11. Suspected Communicable disease- Guideline for Crew, IATA December 2017.

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Footnotes

1. https://www.mha.gov.in/sites/default/files/MHAorder%20copy_0.pdf

2. https://dgca.gov.in/digigov-portal/jsp/dgca/homePage/viewPDF.jsp?page=topHeader/COVID/Circular%203%20-%2023.3.2020.pdf

3. https://dgca.gov.in/digigov-portal/jsp/dgca/homePage/viewPDF.jsp?page=topHeader/COVID/Circular%20Domestic-14.4.2020.pdf

4. https://dgca.gov.in/digigov-portal/jsp/dgca/homePage/viewPDF.jsp?page=topHeader/COVID/Circular%202.5.2020.pdf

5. https://www.mha.gov.in/sites/default/files/MHAOrderDt_20052020regdeletionofdomesticairtravelofpassengers.pdf

6. https://www.civilaviation.gov.in/sites/default/files/Order_of_MoCA_dated_21st_May_2020.pdf

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