DGCA to airlines: Keep middle seats vacant or provide ‘wrap-around gowns’

Following an order by the Supreme Court that the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) should consider norms based on the health of passengers rather than that of commercial airlines, the regulator has asked carriers to try to keep middle seats on flights vacant and provide “wrap-around gowns” to passengers who are allowed such seats.

In an order on Monday, the DGCA said: “The airlines shall allot the seats in such a manner that the middle seat/seat between two passengers is kept vacant if the passenger load and seat capacity permits the same. However, members of same family may be allowed to sit together”.