The Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) has banned catering products from being served or consumed in-flight by airlines or passengers on domestic flights.
This was disclosed by the aviation regulator in a statement signed by its DG, Captain Musa Nuhu and seen by Nairametrics.
According to NCAA, domestic airlines shall serve pre-packed catering products (meals and snacks, etc.) in sealed containers to their passengers during disembarkation.
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What NCAA is saying
“No catering products shall be served or consumed in-flight by airlines or passengers respectively on any domestic flight.
Catering service providers had been identified by the Authority as one of the key service providers to airlines that were required to put in place COVID-19 risk management measures to assure the travelling public that catering products served on board flights were not a potential sources of COVID-19 infection.
Catering in form of packed meals (food and snacks) can only be served on domestic flights by in-flights catering companies who have carried out the appropriate risk assessment and have the approval of the NCAA.
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The NCAA advisory circular newly issued supersedes previous circulars on in-flight catering services on domestic flights with respect to COVID-19 restrictions.
All in-flight catering service providers are hereby required to comply with provisions of NCAA,” the statement read.
What you should know
In a circular issued by the NCAA on its website on the resumption of domestic flight operations in the country, in-flight catering companies were required by the Authority to carry out regular risk assessments of their operations and put in place remedial actions to address any identified hazard to prevent the possible spread of COVID-19 virus to their customers through their products.
Click here to see the full statement.