The apex court initially stated that there cannot be two norms ruling simultaneously - six feet social distance outside and shoulder to shoulder travel on flights. However, later it permitted Air India to continue with repatriation operation by utilizing middle seats in each row till June 6.
An SC bench comprising Chief Justice of India (CJI) Sharad Arvind Bobde and Justices A.S. Bopanna and Hrishikesh Roy stated that “Air India shall be allowed to operate non-scheduled foreign flights with middle seats booking for next 10 days."
"After this Air India will operate non-scheduled flights in accordance with the interim order to be passed by the Bombay High Court," Apex court bench chaird by CJI added.
The case was heard on Monday, despite Eid holiday, after Airlines Air India and Central government requested for an urgent sitting of the Supreme Court.
It started with an Air India pilot, Deven Yogesh Kanani, who had approached the Bombay High Court with his plea that the Airlines was not following the norms of keeping the middle seat between two passengers empty. In his plea to the court, he took a circular issued by the Government of India on March 23, 2020 which laid some conditions to prevent the spread of Covid-19 while bringing back Indians stranded abroad due to the pandemic.
On this, Air India had told the High Court that DGCA order had been superseded by the latest rules put out by the government. The High Court had barred the middle seat occupancy in on-scheduled international flights.