Air Travel During COVID Times in India

The Udaipur Airport (Maharana Pratap Airport) wasn’t very busy during departure but while landing (for the return journey), the airport was more crowded as a few other aircrafts also landed at around the same time.
The Domestic Terminal (Terminal 3) at the New Delhi Airport was crowded as usual during both arrival and departure. The airport administration was ensuring that passengers keep a safe distance as per social distancing norms. However, people were not very keen on abiding by the norms.

The passengers featured in this post used Indigo for their flight. Yes, the middle seat was kept vacant for maintaining a safe distance. The window seat and the seat just next to the aisle were allotted to the passengers. However, if there was an urgent need to fill the middle seat, a proper safety kit was provided to be worn completely (similar to what the sanitization workers have worn in the image below).

As you can see in the image above, there were adequate sanitization measures taken by the airline some of which are:
1. There was a dedicated sanitization staff of the airline which cleaned the aircraft each time the passengers got down.
2. The aircraft was thoroughly cleaned on the inside with sprays, vacuum cleaners, sanitizers etc. This cleaning included the aisle, the hand baggage storage spaces i.e. the overhead bins / compartments, seats and the windows.
3. The airline stewards and hostesses too were wearing fully covered white protection for their own personal safety.
4. For passengers, if you take a close look at the featured image and the image below this answer, you’ll see the bluish mask and the face shield that was provided by the airline to the passengers. The white mask in the image, though, is a personal N-95 Mask. The mask given by the airline was a basic one (bluish in color).
5. Hand sanitizers were also provided to the passengers.

According to one of the passenger we interviewed, there was quite an apprehension regarding the sanitization and social distancing in the airport and in the plane especially when it was difficult to control others who take things for granted and are not very cautious. She kept praying that no one should come and occupy the middle seat beside her while she was in the plane. Luckily, there was no one who was made to sit beside her in the vacant seat.

Pretty much it should be a very normal kind of thing considering the new normal. There were, of course, people who weren’t keeping on their masks completely, or with the nose exposed in the open air but if one wears the face shield, that’s good enough.
Also, if you’re traveling, do consider purchasing your own N-95 Mask as it would protect you better when compared to the mask that is given by the airlines.
Considering the fact that the seats of some of the aircrafts are relatively higher than the seats of buses, it is a good idea to purchase a face shield that protects the top and the back of the head too. This becomes important when a careless co-passenger sneezes or coughs from the seat behind you and the droplets land at the back of your head.