No Mandatory Aarogya Setu, But Passengers Need to Fill Declaration Form Before Boarding Flight

Passengers who don't use smartphones or don't have the app installed will need to fill the self-declaration form.

The Ministry of Civil Aviation under the Government of India issued a set of SOPs to be followed by travellers to board the domestic flights starting May 25. One of the SOPs was to have a mandatory Aarogya Setu app pre-installed in their phones and only the passengers under the green band will be allowed to board the aircraft.

However, there are passengers who don't use smartphones, or phones at all, or for any reason, don't have the app. A clarification has been issued now stating Aarogya Setu is not mandatory for the passengers, but they do have to fill a declaration form before boarding the flight stating their travel history and health conditions.

To save the effort of filling the form on spot, Aarogya Setu app comes in handy. Commercial passenger flights at Delhi airport will initially operate from Terminal 3 as the domestic flight services will resume from May 25, Monday as announced earlier by DIAL. Entry gates, self check-in machines and check-in bays will be allocated to airlines to avoid overcrowding by air travellers at the Delhi Aiport.

The airport will keep all food, beverage and retail shops open to avoid overcrowding at one place and use "ultraviolet disinfection tunnels" for all incoming baggage, according to a plan prepared by the GMR group-led Delhi International Airport Ltd.

India has been under a lockdown since March 25 to curb the spread of the novel coronavirus and all commercial passenger flights have been suspended for the lockdown period. However, cargo flights, medical evacuation flights and special flights permitted by the aviation regulator DGCA are allowed to operate.