Need to wait on resuming air travel: Niti Aayog member

NEWDELHI: India needs to wait for flights to resume because the air that circulates inside the plane’s pressurised cabin may be conducive to the spread of the coronavirus disease, a senior member of the government’s team to combat Covid-19 said on Friday.

The comments by Dr Vinod Paul, Niti Aayog member and head of the empowered group overseeing the Covid-19 medical emergency management plan, came even as a senior civil aviation ministry official told HT that the ministry was now ready to begin operations, which were suspended when a nationwide lockdown was clamped on March 25. International operations were stopped three days earlier.

“We should wait for flights to start,’’ said Dr Paul said on a day the Airports Authority of India (AAI) issued standard operating procedures for passengers to follow when flights resume.

“There are issues which need further study,’’ he added. “Mainly the issue is of the pressurised cabin. This could be conducive to the spread of the disease. Also, it’s the same air which will be shared by all. So we have to think very carefully before we begin flying about the implications of it all.’’

To be sure, a final decision on when to resume flying is yet to be taken. Globally, research has suggested that the virus can be transmitted through air conditioning but no conclusive studies have proven that air travel is any worse than surface transport.

A senior government official said on condition of anonymity said that the view that the condition was not right for air travel to resume was a view expressed by not just Dr Paul but other health professionals that the government was consulting. These professionals included experts from the Indian Council of Medical Research, the country’s apex biomedical research body.

However, the official said that there were economic costs to suspending air travel and that the government may have to eventually find a way around the problem. “There are many countries which never stopped flights,’’ said this official. “The air in a pressurised cabin is recycled and is perhaps cleaner than regular air.’’

The concern about air conditioning has been expressed before, especially when the Railways resumed services for migrant labourers and later, special passenger trains, last week.

“As per the ministry of health guidelines, centralised AC is acceptable provided complete air change inside an AC coach takes place at least 12 times per hour,’’ the national transporter said in a statement.

When asked about the resumption of rail services, Dr Paul said airlines would also resume but only after the authorities found way to minimise the risks. It could be in the form of allowing only those who had tested positive for Covid-19 antibodies, for instance, he added.

Earlier in the day, the AAI, which manages 100-odd airports in India, said air travelers must maintain a distance of four feet from co-passengers, wear a mask and other protective gear, wash or sanitise their hands frequently and carry a 350 ml bottle of sanitiser all the time. Downloading the Aarogya Setu app in mobile phones will be mandatory and passengers will have to do a web check-in before the journey and a carry a print out of the boarding pass.

The stamping of boarding passes has also been suspended to reduce contact between passengers and security staff.