Govt allows airlines to provide meals, magazines on all domestic flights

The carriers were not allowed to serve meals on flights with a duration of less than two hours since 15 April due to the Covid pandemic.

An air hostess wearing a PPE kit gives safety advisory to the passengers in an IndiGo flight from Delhi to Ahmedabad | File Photo: Praveen Jain | ThePrint

New Delhi: The Civil Aviation Ministry on Tuesday said it has allowed airlines to serve meals on all domestic flights.

The carriers had not been allowed to serve meals on flights, which have duration of less than two hours, since April 15 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

“The airlines, operating flights on domestic sectors may provide meal services on board, without restriction on duration of the flight,” the ministry’s order said on Tuesday.

The ministry has also permitted the resumption of magazines and reading materials for passengers on domestic flights, the order noted.

The decision to resume meals and magazines has been taken as “Covid caseload” has reduced due to “proper implementation of appropriate Covid behaviour protocol”, it mentioned.

When the scheduled domestic flight services were resumed on May 25 last year after the lockdown imposed to curb the spread of coronavirus, the ministry had allowed the airlines to serve in-flight meals under certain conditions.