The civil aviation ministry has put out guidelines for the vaccination of aviation staff across private and government companies. Priority for vaccination to be given to ATC, pilots, cabin crew and passenger facing staff.

A dedicated vaccination facility will be established by the airport operators in their respective airports to facilitate expeditious vaccination of staff, the guidelines issued by the civil aviation ministry stated.

“Priority during vaccination should be given to the air traffic controllers (ATCs), cockpit and cabin crew of the airlines as well as mission-critical and passenger-facing staff,” the ministry said.

The guidelines stated that the operator should immediately contact the state governments or private service providers (hospitals), which are willing to set up Covid-19 vaccination centres at the airports.

There can be more than one service provider at any airport depending on the number of personnel working in the aviation ecosystem,” it stated.

The airport operators must establish facilities such as drinking water, helpdesks, ventilation, fans, washrooms, vaccination counters and segregated waiting areas, it said.

The cost per vaccination dose can be decided by the airport operator with the service provider and it will be the same for the aviation personnel, it mentioned. The focus of the major airports could be on tying up with private service providers, it noted.

“For the smaller airports — where the numbers to get vaccinated are less and private players do not find it viable — the airport operators can approach the district or local administration for the vaccination programme,” it added.