Today AAI released the guidelines to be followed by air passengers as the flight operation resumes from May 25 onwards.Apart from reaching the airports 2 hours prior the flight,airposr will only accomiodate passengers who have flight in next 4 hours.

Highlights of the SOP that has to be followed by airport operators for resumption of domestic flights:

Passengers should wear masks and gloves
Only those whose flight is in the next four hours will be allowed to enter terminal building
Passengers to undergo thermal screening before entering terminal building
Those that don’t show ‘green’ on Aarogya Setu will not be allowed to enter airport
Trolley use to be avoided. Will be available to a select few passengers on request basis
Sanitisation of baggage before entry into terminal
Mats soaked in bleach to be placed at entry for disinfection of shoes
At passenger touchpoints, staff to either wear face shields behind counter or put glass wall at counter
Constant announcements about social distancing and other norms
Boarding and deplaning in batches to maintain social distance
All airport staff to wear PPEs and hand sanitisers for staff and passenger

Recently ,Civil Aviation Minister Hardeep Singh Puri had declared that domestic civil aviation operations will start in a calibrated manner from May 25 ."All airports and air carriers are being informed to be ready for operations from May 25. Standard operating procedures for passenger movement are also being separately issued by the Ministry of Civil Aviation," he said in a Twitter post.

Meanwhile Indian Railways has also released the SOP as train services on Indian Railways gets partially restored w.e.f. from 01st June 2020

Indian Railways will start operations of 200 passenger services . These trains shall run from 1/6/2020 and booking of all these trains will commence from 10 am on 21/05/20.

These special services shall be in addition to the existing Shramik special trains being run since 01st May and Special AC trains (30 trains) being run since 12th May 2020.

Other regular Passenger services including all mail/express, passenger and suburban services shall remain cancelled until further advice.

Train Type: Special trains on the pattern of Regular Trains

These will be fully reserved trains having both AC & Non AC classes. General (GS) coaches shall also have reserved seat for sitting. There will be no unreserved coach in the train.

Fare shall be as normal and for General (GS) coaches, being reserved, second seating(2S) fare shall be charged and seat will be provided to all the passengers.

Booking of Tickets & Charting:

i. Only online E-Ticketing will be done through IRCTC website or through Mobile App. No tickets will be booked across the reservation counter on any Railway Station. Booking of tickets through ‘agents’, (both IRCTC Agents and Railway Agents) shall not be permitted.

ii. The ARP (advance reservation period) shall be maximum 30 days.

iii. RAC and Wait list will be generated as per extant rules however waiting list ticket holders shall not be permitted to board the train.

iv. No unreserved (UTS) tickets will be issued and no tickets will be issued onboard to any passenger during the journey.

v. No tatkal and premium tatkal booking shall be permitted in these trains.

vi. First chart shall be prepared at least 4 hours before scheduled departure and second chart shall be prepared at least 2 hours((unlike present practice of 30 minutes) before scheduled departure. Only online current booking shall be permitted in between first and second chart preparation.

vii. All passengers shall be compulsorily screened and only asymptomatic passengers are allowed to enter /board the train.

viii. Passengers travelling by these special services will observe the following precautions :

1. Only passengers with Confirmed tickets shall be allowed to enter the Railway station.

2. All passengers must wear face covers/masks at the entry and during travel.

3. The passengers shall reach the station at-least 90 minutes in advance to facilitate thermal screening at the station. Only passengers who are found asymptomatic will be permitted to travel.

4. Passengers shall observe social distancing both at the station and on trains.

5. On arrival at their destination, the travelling passengers will have to adhere to such health protocols as are prescribed by the destination state/UT

Quota Permitted:

All quotas shall be permitted in these special trains as has been permitted in Regular trains. Limited number of reservation (PRS) counters shall be operated for this purpose. However, normal ticket booking cannot be done through these counters.

Concessions: Only four categories of Divyangjan concession and 11 categories of patient concessions are permitted in these special trains..

Cancellation and Refund rule: Railway Passengers (Cancellation of Ticket and Refund of Fare) Rules, 2015 shall be applicable.

In addition following instructions already issued regarding Refund of fare in case passenger is not found fit for travelling due to symptoms of Corona shall remain applicable.

As per MHA guidelines all passengers shall be compulsorily screened and only asymptomatic passengers shall be allowed to enter/board the train.

If during screening a passenger has very high temperature/symptoms of Covid-19 etc., he shall not be allowed to travel despite having confirmed tickets. In such case full refund shall be provided to passenger as under:-

(i) On PNR having single passenger.

(ii) On a party ticket if one passenger is found unfit to travel and also all other passengers on the same PNR do not want to travel in that case full refund shall be granted for all passengers.

(iii) On a party ticket if one passenger is found unfit to travel however other passengers on the PNR want to travel in that case full refund of fare shall be granted to passenger who was not allowed to travel.

For all the above cases, TTE certificates as per extant practice shall be issued to the passenger at the entry/checking/screening point itself mentioning “Number of passengers not travelled due to symptoms of Covid 19 in one or more passengers”

After getting TTE certificates, online TDR shall be filed for refund of not travelled passengers, within 10 days from the date of journey and the original