Aviation watchdog asks airlines to install child restraint system in aircraft

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The Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) has instructed all airlines operating in India to put in place a child restraint system in aircraft.

The combination of a harness and safety belt that can be secured to an aircraft seat will protect children or infants from injury or death especially during a sudden acceleration or deceleration, unanticipated or severe turbulence, or impact.

This comes after recommendations of an expert panel that looked into the crash of an Air India Express flight in Kerala’s Kozhikode in August 2020.

The directorate said: "The airlines will have to develop a standard operating procedure as well as guidelines to manage the change through their safety management systems to allow and enable the use of child restraint systems on board their aircraft."

It added: "The airlines may also make available on their websites the width of the narrowest and widest passenger seats in each class of service for each make, model, and series of airplane used in passenger-carrying operations and prohibit the use of certain types of child restraint system during ground movement, take-off, and landing, etc."