Air India Crew Must Confirm Pre-Flight Covid-19 Test Results Are Negative

New Delhi: It’s now mandatory for all Air India pilots and cabin crew staff to confirm that their pre-flight Covid-19 test results are negative before board the aircraft.

A directive to this effect was issued after a pilot on an aircraft was found to have tested positive.

On Saturday, an Air India flight from Delhi to Moscow — with no passenger on board — was ordered to return midway after the ground staff discovered that one of the pilots on the plane had been assigned duty despite having tested positive for coronavirus. It was an oversight by a team checking pre-flight medical reports of the crew.

“The COVID-19 test is being conducted by the airline at a substantial cost, with considerable effort. As it is a recent procedure and there is a shortage of staff in office, there is a possibility of an oversight in this matter,” Captain R S Sandhu, Executive Director (Operations), Air India was quoted as saying by PTI.

“The test is primarily designed to mitigate the risk of transmission among the crew. Every effort will be made by the personnel dealing with the testing and rostering of crew to ensure that the reports are checked before crew is being rostered for a flight,” he stated in the circular.

Sandhu added that henceforth, the individual crew member must also check and reconfirm his or her test result.

“In case of any oversight in this matter, not only are there avoidable adverse operational issues, tarnishing the image of the airline, but also irresponsible exposure of a fellow crew member to this disease,” Sandhu mentioned.

The plane was in the airspace of Uzbekistan when it was asked to return. All crew members have been quarantined after they landed in Delhi.