A senior crew member of Air India Express was allowed to be on a Delhi-Madurai flight despite testing COVID-19 positive. The 44-year-old employee had taken her RT-PCR test on November 12. The airlines was informed about her status 50 minutes before the flight on November 13 from Delhi. Reportedly, she had operated for the entire day and also came back to Delhi via the return flight. The employee’s data in the company’s system also did not have any on-record proof of the report. Previously, 19 passengers on Air India’s Delhi to Wuhan had tested COVID positive on reaching Wuhan.
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COVID-19 Positive Air India Crew Member Flies From Delhi To Madurai
On November 13, a 44-year-old senior crew member of Air India Express was allowed to fly from Delhi’s Indira Gandhi International Airport and also take a return flight despite testing COVID-19 positive. The airlines came to know her status 50 minutes before her flight from Delhi. The airline has admitted that she had tested positive and added that it will investigate the matter further.
According to Hindustan Times, an Air India spokesperson has said, “The said flight was a Delhi-Madurai flight, for which a pre-flight RT-PCR test is not mandatory. The head crew member was to operate the international sector the next day and hence had taken the test. However, she was quarantined from November 14 onwards and no other fellow crew members when tested were found infected. We will, however, surely investigate the matter.” An Air India crew member had also got fired after saving thousands of stranded Indians during Vande Bharat Mission.
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COVID-19 Protocols On Airlines Violated
As per sources, the officials had even tried to manipulate the report data of the member in the scheduling system. Sources have said, “It’s true that a crew member can operate few domestic flights until his/her test reports are awaited. This is done in order to avoid a situation of crew shortage for airlines. But, it is completely unacceptable that an airline got the crew member tested only two days before her international flight and also goes ahead, allowing her to operate flights even when she is confirmed to be Covid-19 positive.” Aviation expert Vipul Saxena has stated that this is a ‘blatant violation’ of coronavirus safety protocols. He added, “Crew schedule planning definitely has a provision for such a last-moment change.” Meanwhile, these are the new air travel guidelines for Indian passengers amid the COVID-19 pandemic: