Action is being taken against passengers who do not wear masks properly: DGCA

The Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) on Wednesday informed the Delhi High Court that action is being taken against passengers who refuse to wear masks, including de-boarding the aircraft during the flight or behaving as “unregistered passengers”.

Justice Naveen Chawla & c. The Hari Shankar bench said they were satisfied with the steps taken by the DGCA and decided to close the case initiated by the court itself to curb the proliferation of COVIDs by passengers and crew. -19

On March 8, during a Air India flight from Kolkata to New Delhi, on March 8, Justice Shankar passed a set of guidelines by airlines, employees and passengers.

The judge said, “It was observed that, although all the passengers were wearing masks, many were wearing masks under the chin and were adamant on wearing the mask.”

The DGCA said on Wednesday that it had issued a circular on March 13, following the directions of the court, on the guidelines to be adopted at the airports.

The circular states, “In aircraft, if a passenger does not observe the wearing of a mask properly even after repeated warnings, it must be de-boarded when needed, prior to departure”.

“If any passenger in the aircraft refuses to wear a mask or violates the passenger COVID-19 protocol for passengers even after repeated warnings, such passenger during the fight is defined as” unregistered passenger ” can go. .. Under Civil Aviation Requirements [CAR] … And the procedure in relation to dealing with such unregistered passenger, as provided in the car mentioned above, will be followed by the airlines concerned, ”it said.

The DGCA circular also states that passengers will wear masks at all times during air travel and uphold social security norms. It was stated that the mask would not be taken down from the nose except in exceptional circumstances.

“The CISF or other police personnel stationed at the airport entrance will ensure that no one is allowed to enter the airport without wearing a mask,” it said.

The circular also stated that the airport director / terminal manager, as applicable, should ensure that passengers are properly wearing masks and maintain social distance within the airport premises at all times.

In case, no passengers are following the ‘COVID-19 protocol’, they should be handed over to the security agencies after due warning. If necessary, they can be dealt with according to the law, it said.