RAWALPINDI: The Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) has said that airlines operators are not serving meals onboard domestic flights within Pakistan on the pretext of Covid-19.

The CAA had on Monday allowed serving of in-flight meals and refreshments on domestic flights.

On Sunday, the authority said in a tweet: “It has been observed through numerous complaints made by passengers that airline operators are not serving in-flight meals onboard domestic flights within Pakistan.”

The CAA has directed that all airlines operating domestic flights within Pakistan will serve in-flight meal / beverages to passengers travelling onboard domestic flights and in no case shall passengers be deprived of such in-flight service except for when mandated by NCOC or CAA as a precaution against Covid-19.

A spokesman for the Pakistan International Airlines said the delay in serving in-flight meals onboard domestic flights was caused because the meal service remained suspended due to Covid-19 for several months.

He said they had been preparing to serve in-flight meals to passengers and shortly will resume serving meals and beverages to travellers.

The CAA had issued a directive on Thursday to all domestic scheduled and chartered air carriers and ground handling agents to ensure wearing of face masks by passengers on all domestic flights within Pakistan, except for when meals are being served.

It said other applicable Covid-related restrictions or Standard Operating Procedures issued by the CAA will continue to take effect.

The CAA had imposed a ban on serving meals during all domestic flight operations — chartered and private — due to the increasing number of coronavirus cases and its variants last year. It lifted the restrictions of serving inflight meals and beverages onboard domestic flights in the light of decrease in Covid-19 cases.

Published in Dawn, October 11th, 2021