All airlines have made the government’s contact tracing app Aarogya Setu a mandatory pre-requisite for booking a flight despite concerns over privacy and data surveillance due to ambiguities in the Centre’s guidelines for resumption of air travel from May 25.
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IndiGo, the largest airline in the country, which will operate 450 airlines to begin with, requires passengers to “download the Aarogya Setu app on your phone to be able to fly”. Additionally, passengers will also have to “fill an online health declaration before being issued the online boarding pass,” it said in a mail to customers.
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Vistara, SpiceJet and AirAsia India, too, announced similar measures.
All airlines, barring GoAir, have opened flight bookings.
The move by airlines come despite Minister for Civil Aviation Hardeep Puri clarifying at a press conference a day earlier: “If you don’t have the app or the phone instrument is not compatible, it doesn’t mean you will be deprived of air travel. You will be given a self declaration form to fill.”
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Mr. Puri was responding to a question on ambiguities in the guidelines prescribed by the Ministry for reopening flight operations which, at certain stages of the journey, provides travellers an option to fill up a self-declaration form and at other stages, prescribes mandatory use of the app. This has also resulted in each airline interpreting the advisory differently.
A senior official of the Ministry said while the app was not compulsory, passengers would be “nudged” to download it.
The preface to the guidelines issued on May 21 by the Ministry states, “a self-declaration/ Aarogya Setu App status (for compatible device) would also be obtained that the passenger is free of COVID-19 symptoms. Passengers with “Red” status in Aarogya Setu App would not be permitted to travel.”
Similarly, in the section for measures to be adopted by airlines, the preface recommends, “airlines should devise a system that web-check-in or tele check-in is possible only when the passenger certifies the status of their health through the Aarogya Setu App or a self-declaration form.”
But contrary to these protocols, if a passenger does not have the app when he or she reaches the airport then “the passenger should be facilitated to go to a counter provided by the airport where Aarogya Setu can be downloaded. Children below fourteen years of age would be exempt from this requirement,” according to the measures suggested for airports to follow.
As a result, Vistara said in a press statement that it will accept passengers for flight bookings only “after certification of their health status on the mandatory contact tracing Aarogya Setu app”.
In response to a query Vistara replied, “We will ensure strict compliance with all guidelines/SOPs of MoCA (Ministry of Civil Aviation) including the requirement of self-declaration form by passengers in case they do not have the Aarogya Setu app.”
“Wearing a mask and downloading the Aarogya Setu App will be mandatory for passengers,” said SpiceJet in its statement.
Air Asia says passengers must do both. “Guests must mandatorily web check-in, complete their self-declaration form and download the Aarogya Setu app.”
An official of another airline explained why it has made the app compulsory for passengers despite the Minister's remarks. “It’s not mandatory as we know but not having (the app) means undergoing thermal screening, temperature check or downloading the app at the airport. (Having the app) ensures a more hassle free experience.” he said.
The Ministry of Home Affairs on May 17 backtracked on the app being mandatory and suggested that employers ensure that it is downloaded “on best effort basis”, whereas in its May 1 guidelines it was made mandatory for all employees, whether in a public or private workplace.
Watch | How does the Aarogya Setu app work?