Etihad Airways has received a show-cause notice from the Delhi Government’s New Delhi district for the alleged violation of guidelines for international travellers amid the Omicron scare.
The Vasant Vihar sub-divisional magistrate under New Delhi district has asked station managers of the airline to respond to the show-cause notices within 24 hours. Earlier, a show cause notice to American Airlines was issued for alleged non-compliance with the guidelines for international arrivals. Air India and Iran’s Mahan airlines have also received notices for violation of norms last week.
"Non-compliance shall be viewed seriously, and it would be presumed that the Station Manager has nothing to say in the matter and action as deemed fit shall be initiated as per relevant provisions of the Disaster Management Act, 2005; Section 188 of IPC and other applicable laws," the notice read.
“Travellers from Countries excluding those Countries at risk, will be allowed to leave the airport and shall self-monitor their health for 14 days’ post arrival. A sub-section (2% of the total flight passengers) shall undergo post-arrival testing at random at the airport on arrival.
The 2% of such travellers in each flight shall be identified by the concerned airlines (preferably from different countries). Such travellers shall be escorted by the concerned airlines/MoCA to testing area on arrival on December 5 and 6,” read the notice.
According to the Centre, the countries designated as "at-risk" are European countries, including the UK, and South Africa, Brazil, Botswana, China, Mauritius, New Zealand, Zimbabwe, Singapore, Hong Kong and Israel. Travellers from these "at-risk" countries are following additional measures on arrival in India from Tuesday midnight.
Under the new norms, RT-PCR tests are mandatory for passengers arriving from "at-risk" countries, and they will be allowed to leave the airport only after the results come. Also, two per cent of passengers arriving on all flights from other countries will be subjected to the test randomly.
Meanwhile, on Saturday the New Delhi district administration issued show-cause notices to Air India and a private airline from Iran for alleged violation of passenger boarding guidelines issued by the Centre following the emergence of the coronavirus variant Omicron, officials said. They said three passengers -- one each in Air India flights from Dubai and Amritsar and the third travelling in a Mahan Air flight from Tehran -- were allowed boarding without filing up their personal details.
A passenger in Mahan Air flight from Tehran that landed at Delhi's IGI Airport on Friday evening was allowed boarding despite not filling up personal details form, stated the notice.
Similarly, two passengers from Air India's Dubai and Amritsar flights that landed here on Saturday early morning had not submitted their personal details.