GoAir says taking steps to protect staff, passengers from COVID-19

Mumbai, Apr 15 () Budget carrier GoAir is taking several measures, including leaving the middle seat empty to maintain social distancing norms, to protect its staff, crew, and passengers ahead of the resumption of its flight services in a phased manner from May 4.

These measures incorporate all of the recommendations from the aviation regulator DGCA along with some additional steps that the airline is proactively taking on its own, GoAir said in a release.

These measures also include maintaining strict social distancing at the airport during check-in and boarding, and on the aerobridges and buses, including row-wise boarding and deboarding, opening of check-in counters three hours prior to flight, and shutting them an hour prior, to allow more time for sanitisation of processing of customers and baggage, the airline said in the release.

Also, ground time for aircraft between flights to be increased to allow for cleaning and disinfection of all surfaces that come into contact with crew or passengers in the cabin, galley, and lavatories

As part of the measures, no meals or snacks will be provided except water to the passengers to minimize non-essential interaction between passengers and crew, it said, adding, all on-board services will also remain suspended.

Moreover, the crew will have to wear face masks and gloves at all times when interacting with passengers and when in the aisles besides deep cleaning of aircraft, disinfection, and fogging that will be undertaken each night for the entire fleet, GoAir said. IAS MRMR