No meal on flights with duration of up to 120 minutes: Government

The government today announced that no meal will be served on flights with duration of 120 minutes, as India reports a record number of cases during the second wave that hit the country during the first week of March.

In an order issued today, ‘the airlines operating flights on domestic sectors may provide meals services on board, where in the flight duration is two hours or more...’

“In all classes, tray cutlery will be completely disposable...tea/coffee/beverage should be served in disposable containers and glass... and the crew should wear a fresh set of gloves for every meal/beverage service,” said an order from the government.

India is seeing a record number of infections, as it was hit by new strains of virus and India reported record 168,912 infections on Sunday.

The rise in cases are also impacting the revival of India’s aviation sector, which was seeing a consistent rise on the back of decline in number of cases.

Rising number of cases has also led to some countries banning international flights. The latest to ban international flights is Bangladesh, which has banned all international flights. While the UK, which recently announced to relax some lockdown measures, has not fully relaxed restrictions on international flights.

This has come at a wrong time for India, which was trying to restart regular international operations from summer months this year. Currently, India has limited international flights with countries under bubble arrangement with countries.