Airlines told to issue H1N1 advisory

All international carriers flying in and out of India will now have to issue H1N1 (swine flu) advisories on board and also ask passengers to submit details of their visit to affected countries.

All international carriers flying in and out of India will now have to issue H1N1 (swine flu) advisories on board and also ask passengers to submit details of their visit to affected countries.

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The Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA), the country’s aviation regulator, has asked all airlines to distribute a proforma and the advisory before the passengers land in India.

All passengers coming in from swine-flu affected countries like the US, Mexico, Canada, Austria, Germany, Israel, New Zealand, Spain and the UK are at present required to fill a proforma. Passengers are required to declare if they have been to these countries and if they have any flu symptoms.

The proforma is filled at special counters at 17 international airports in the country.
Now, the airlines will have to distribute the proforma and an advisory on board, the aviation regulator has said.

It was being done to ensure that the passengers and crew members were in know of the steps being taken by the government to screen passengers arriving from swine-flu hit countries, a civil aviation ministry spokeswoman said.

Passengers will have to disclose if they have visited or transited through these countries in the past 10 days and if they experienced any of the flu symptoms. The symptoms include fever, cough, sore throat, nasal congestion and headache.

Information like the seat, flight and passport numbers, contact address, ports of embarkation and disembarkation etc will also be collected through the proforma, which will be collected by immigration officials.