DGCA rules out extension of deadline for new period rules for pilots

Airline Pilots

The Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) has refused to extend the deadline for airlines to implement the new flight duty time limitation (FDTL) guidelines beyond June 1.

“The draft rules were placed on the website in the first week of November 2023, inviting comments within 30 days. The implementation was deferred to June 1 to give sufficient lead time for airlines to adapt to the changes like logistics, system and consequential arrangements and lead time for training of flight crew,” a senior government official said.

This timeline was provided keeping in mind that a commercial pilot licence holder, who has completed his type rating (or training on a specific type of aircraft such as an A320 or Boeing 737 MAX), did not need more than four months to be released for flying by an airline, he said.

A senior DGCA official also cautioned airlines against scaremongering. "The new duty norms are based on empirical data, and will balance the industry’s growth as well as safety concerns."

The Federation of Indian Airlines, a group of domestic airlines, in its letter to the aviation watchdog, called the six-month deadline until June insufficient and requested to defer the implementation of new rules on pilot rest and duty period by a year.

Following concerns from pilots about rising fatigue levels, the revised “flight duty time limitation”, issued by the regulator on January 8, curtailed night-time flying as well as enhanced weekly rest. The FIA includes Air India, SpiceJet, and IndiGo.

Airlines contend that such training would take 8-10 months.

The new flight duty rules rewrite the definition of the night period, extending it by an hour from 12am-5am to 12am-6am, and limiting the duty period to 10 hours. It also caps the number of landings a pilot can do to two.

The DGCA has also cut down the period for which airlines can exceed the limit during unforeseen circumstances, such as bad weather or air-traffic delays from three to two hours.

In a bid to ensure better fatigue management, the latest rules include additional rest for pilots, revision of night duty regulations, and directions for airlines to submit pilot fatigue reports. The regulator has mandated airline operators to comply with the new notification by June 1.

The new mandate has increased the weekly rest periods for flight crew to 48 hours in a week from 36 hours earlier.

The definition of 'night' in the FDTL regulations has also been tweaked. Previously, night was defined as the time between midnight and 5am. But now, night will cover the time between midnight to 6am, giving flight crew an extra hour of rest during early morning.

Domestic airlines in their letter to the Ministry of Civil Aviation and the DGCA had said that they were worried about the new definition of night period as it was extended by an hour from 12am-5am to 12am-6am, about the duty period extension by 10 hours, and also about the limit on landings a pilot can do to two.

The DGCA has also cut down the period for which airlines can exceed the limit during unforeseen circumstances, such as bad weather or air traffic delays from three to two hours.

While rules of other aviation regulators in the US and Europe mandate a reduction of duty period during night hours as pilots operating during that period remain the most vulnerable to fatigue, none of them place any restriction on the number of flights.

The FIA said that this would severely disrupt daily operations as most duty periods either start or fall between this window.

Domestic airlines had requested the aviation regulator to allow them to implement their own Fatigue Risk Management Systems (FRMS).

FRMS is a process where airlines collect data and analyse them using software to monitor fatigue among their pilots. Global aviation watchdog ICAO also prescribes the use of FRMS against the traditional approach of regulators prescribing limits.

In a January 30 letter to the DGCA, Air India’s pilot unions - the Indian Pilots Guild (IPG) and the Indian Commercial Pilots Association (ICPA) - stated that the airline is not adhering to the FDTL regulations. They had stressed on the "grave concern regarding FDTL compliance within Air India".

In the complaint, also directed to Air India Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer Campbell Wilson, the pilot unions argued that extending the FDTL is tantamount to "compromising" pilot safety and breaching regulatory standards.