No meals on flights if journey is less than 2 hours, says MoCA

The ministry, however, has allowed meals for flights flying for more than two hours, provided the airlines use disposable cutlery and serve only pre-packed food. This order will come into effect from Thursday (April 15).

No meals will be provided to passengers whose air journey is less than two hours. In order to control the spread of Covid-19 pandemic, the ministry of civil aviation (MoCA) on Monday issued an order restricting airlines from serving food to passengers with flying time less than two hours.

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The ministry, however, has allowed meals for flights flying for more than two hours, provided the airlines use disposable cutlery and serve only pre-packed food. This order will come into effect from Thursday (April 15).

According to the MoCA order, for flights which are allowed to serve food, the tray set up, plates and cutlery in all classes should be completely disposable and no re-use or cleaned and disinfected rotables should be used. It also said that used rotables should be thoroughly cleaned and disinfected before reusing them.

Tea, coffee, alcoholic and non- alcoholic beverages have been allowed only in disposable cans or bottles or glasses. “There will be no pouring services and beverages will be served in single-use disposable units and all the disposables will be disposed in trash bags or carts by the crew at the end of the meal service,” the order read.

MoCA asked all operating crew members to wear a fresh set of gloves for every meal or beverage service. It also asked the airlines to inform passengers about these amended norms by making announcements. “The service of in-flight meals is to be staggered among the adjacent seats as far as possible,” the order concluded.

Central government had earlier restricted serving meals during flight after it resumed flying for the domestic sector in phased manner. This was being done as a precautionary measure to avoid spread of the Sars-CoV-2 virus which causes Covid-19. However, on August 29, it allowed selling in-flight meals, which is a significant source of ancillary revenue for low-cost airlines.

While airlines can only serve pre-packed snacks and beverages in domestic flights, they ca serve hot meals and alcohol in international flights.