The FIP claims to represent around 5,000 pilots.
In a letter to Director General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) Arun Kumar, the FIP said that these testing machines are often used on multiple individuals, some of whom may be infected without showing any symptoms.
During the pandemic last year also, the Directorate General of Civil Aviation had temporarily suspended BA tests for all aviation personnel due to similar concerns. In the light of the unprecedented surge in Covid-19 cases nationwide, it is requested that Breath Alcohol Tests for aviation personnel are temporarily suspended across your jurisdiction, with immediate effect, to prevent the spread of infection - as was done by your office last year during the onset of the first wave of the pandemic,” FIP president Surinder Mehta said in the letter.
Give pilots across all age groups priority for Covid jabs
Top Searches Give pilots across all age groups priority for Covid jabs
Saurabh Sinha / TNN / Updated: Apr 8, 2021, 18:26 IST
FacebookTwitterLinkedinEMail
NEW DELHI: An association representing over 5,000 pilots in India has urged the government to consider them across age groups and not just above 45 as frontline workers for Covid for priority vaccination.
Expressing “disappointment” at being left out from this category despite being in the forefront of the Covid battle from Day One, the Federation of Indian Pilots (FIP) on Thursday wrote to Union health ministry requesting that “commercial pilots in all age groups in India be categorised frontline workers so that they may be given priority and unrestricted voluntary access to Covid vaccines.”