Aviation ministry should vaccinate crew on priority basis, say pilots
MUMBAI: As the country fights the second wave of the Covid-19 pandemic, frontliners employed with various Indian airlines are facing the brunt. Sources from various airlines said that as pilots and cabin crew were not vaccinated on a priority basis, they are contracting Covid-19.
Sources in Air India said in Mumbai and Delhi alone, six senior pilots are in intensive care units (ICU) fighting the virus. A senior Air India pilot said, “At least six of our pilots are critical and many are getting treated for Covid-19. We recently lost our fellow pilot to the virus, and this has brought fear among the pilots and their families.”
Meanwhile, international carriers Etihad and Singapore Airlines
vaccinated all their pilots and cabin crew in February. In March, Qatar Airways operated the world’s first fully vaccinated flight with all 188 passengers, two pilots and 18 cabin crew having received the vaccine. The airline has been advertising the same in order to assure safety to its customers.
Blaming the Ministry of Civil Aviation (MOCA) for not making it mandatory for airlines in India to vaccinate their pilots on priority, pilots across the airlines said the situation of the crew is currently grim because they are not being vaccinated on time.
“Crew across airlines are either home quarantined or hospitalised. These include the ones in critical condition too. We operated flights with life-saving drugs and cargo materials throughout the pandemic only to see our colleagues lose their battle to Covid-19,” said a senior private airline pilot, adding that they are facing the brunt due to a delayed action by authorities. While MOCA had not responded on the matter till the time of going to press , an Air India spokesperson said, “The vaccination programme is charted out after an elaborate study carried out by the government in the best interest of all. Air India is following all the guidelines in this regard and is determined to stand by its employees during this crisis. We have mobilised all resources to counter the crisis. A fully 24-hour Covid assistance cell manned by medical department has been set up to cater to the needs of the affected. A networkwide vaccination plan was in place and eligible employees were being vaccinated. The moment government announced vaccination for citizens from 18 years, Air India rolled out a schedule with a deadline to vaccinate every employee by May end.”
MOCA had on May 6 issued guidelines to ensure vaccination of all stakeholders (airline crew, ground staff and air traffic controllers) after civil aviation secretary TK Pandey wrote to states to accord priority status to vaccination in the first week of May. While private airlines have begun vaccination drives, Air India is expected to commence drives from May 15.
However, it seems that the airline is facing issues for arranging the drive, at least in Delhi. An internal message sourced from Air India on Monday read, “The proposed vaccination camp at GSD complex IGI (Indira Gandhi International Airport) on 11.05.2021 and 12.05.2021 stands cancelled because govt authorities have expressed inability to hold these camps due to nonavailability of vaccines. Fresh dates will be notified once we get re-confirmation from govt authorities (sic).”
The guidelines issued by MOCA advised airport operators to establish dedicated vaccination facilities at their respective airports to facilitate expeditious vaccination for aviation personnel. They came in days after pilots of Air India, earlier this week, threatened to stop work if the airline failed to set up vaccination camps across the country for its flying crew.
“We’ve been writing to MOCA and our management to vaccinate the crew on priority since long. If our crew would’ve been fully vaccinated by February, the situation would have been much better,” the senior pilot said.