With the Corona epidemic subsiding, the Civil Aviation Ministry on Wednesday abolished the mandatory wearing of masks on flights and airports in India. That is, now there will be no fine for not wearing a face mask in flight. The government order states that the use of face masks can be advised in-flight announcements, but penalties cannot be announced.
Mask mandatory has been abolished at a time when air travel has reached close to pre-Covid levels. Data released last month by the aviation regulator Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) showed that the number of domestic passengers rose 46.54% to 10.4 million in September from a year ago. This is slightly higher than in August.
Most of the conditions at the time of the Corona Pandemic have been removed, but some conditions like filling out the Air Suvidha form are still applicable. Frequent fliers and the travel industry are now demanding the removal of the requirement of filling and submitting an Air Suvidha form before flying to India. In flights going from abroad to India, airline staff check whether this form has been submitted along with the vaccination certificate or not.
A travel agent said, vaccinations should be checked, but the air suvidha form is an unnecessary hassle, especially if one has changed flights at the last minute and forgot to fill the form with the details of the new flight.
So far, hundreds of passengers who refused to wear masks have been put on the no-fly list. As the pandemic eased in recent months, it was becoming increasingly difficult for airline crew to ask passengers to wear masks. Now that this order has been withdrawn, the cabin crew will also be able to have some relief on the flight.