Bombay HC directs Air India to vacant middle seats on international flights

Bombay High Court directed Air India to keep middle seats vacant on International flights. Moreover, the HC asked Air India to comply with the Director of General Civil Aviation’s “social distancing” circulation, which required middle seats to be kept vacant on International flights.

An HC bench of Justice R D Dhanuka and Justice Abhay Ahuja hearing to the matter through video conference also said that the latest circular does not spell out that it covers international flights. Also, not the case of Air India and Air India Express that the May 22 circular applies to international operations or to non-scheduled flights.

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HC directed on the petition filed by Air India pilot Deven Kanani, who challenged the national airline’s initial decision not to keep a seat between two passengers vacant for emergency flights that were arranged to bring back stranded Indians from abroad through the Centre’s Vande Bharat Mission, and stated that it was in violation of the March 23 circular issued by the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA).

Also, HC heard the matter on Friday when Air India said that the March 23 circular was replaced with another on May 22. Air India lawyer Abhinav Chandrachud said the May 22 circular issued as part of resuming domestic flights in a phased manner from May 25 has done away with the clause.

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Meanwhile, Maharashtra Home Minister Anil Deshmukh says, “It’s extremely ill-advised to reopen airports in Red Zone”. Anil Deshmukh tweeted, “It's extremely ill-advised to reopen airports in the red zone. Mere thermal scanning of passengers inadequate without swabs. Impossible to have autos, cabs and buses ply in current circumstances. Adding positive passenger will add COVID stress to red zone”. 

“Getting passengers to come from a green zone to a red one putting them to risk of exposure doesn't make sense. Keeping a busy airport up and running with all COVID-safety measures will need huge staff presence and compound risk in the red zone”, Deshmukh tweeted.

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Maharashtra COVID-19 tally

Maharashtra has the highest number of COVID-19 positive cases. With this, Maharashtra Government is showing reluctance in restarting flight operations which the Centre has said will resume from May 25. The Maharashtra government on Saturday said that it is yet to amend its May 19 lockdown order that allowed only special flights, indicating it is not ready to receive people from other states in large numbers.

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