Bombay HC allows middle seat to be occupied on domestic flights

‘Safety Of Flyers Taken Care Of ’

Swati.Deshpande@timesgroup.com

Mumbai:16.06.2020

The Bombay high court in its final order on Monday permitted middle seats to be occupied on board all domestic airlines. The HC also directed that Air India, Air India Express and all domestic airlines have to strictly abide by the May 31 circular of the Director General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) and other applicable standard operating procedures in place.

The HC also disposed an AI pilot’s interim application which stated that an expert committee’s view to permit middle seat occupancy on flights is “suspect or perhaps compromised”.

The HC considered the panel’s views and clarifications and views of the Air Transport Facilitation committee to hold that it was prima facie satisfied that “safety and health of passengers is adequately taken care of, even if the middle seat of the aircraft is not kept vacant due to passenger load and seat capacity.”

“We cannot allow an individual to instill such fear in the minds of the public, without any scientific basis. We would rather follow the advice of experts, if their opinion is found to be fair and reasonable and not tainted with any arbitrariness or ulterior motive,” said the HC bench of Justices S J Kathawalla and SP Tavade, in a reasoned 50-page judgment.

The pilot, Deven Kanani, had said that middle seat ought to be kept vacant on all flights as part of social distancing to ensure passenger safety. He was initially seeking enforcement of a March 23 DGCA circular on all Vande Bharat Mission flights bringing back stranded Indians from abroad.

The HC said since Kanani had “built his case on the DGCA circular dated 23rd March, 2020, which is not based on any scientific material, the only credible material…are the minutes” of the ATFC and expert panel.

Maharashtra doubles Mumbai airport schedule domestic flight capacity to 100

Mumbaikars will get more domestic flights and a wider network from Tuesday. As reported by TOI, the Maharashtra government has allowed Mumbai to have 50 schedule domestic arrivals and as many departures daily. This doubles the skeletal 25 daily arrivals and 25 departures Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport (CSMIA) was allowed to have when schedule domestic services resumed on May 25. By the end of this month, this figure could increase to 100 daily departures and 100 arrivals.

“Starting Tuesday, CSMIA will cater to a total of 100 domestic commercial passenger flight movements, which includes 50 departures and 50 arrivals. The move will also see an increase in the sectors that we are currently handling… we continue to relentlessly work towards ensuring the safety of our passengers,” a CSMIA spokesperson said. TNN