DGCA rejects airlines’ request to postpone new pilot duty norms

The DGCA’s new rules, providing for more rest and reduced night flying for pilots, are to be implemented from June; airlines say they will need 15% to 20% more pilots to comply with the norms

Image used for representational purpose. | Photo Credit: Shiv Kumar Pushpakar

The Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) has turned down a request from airlines seeking to postpone the implementation of new norms on pilot duty hours which will provide for more rest. The norms will come into force from June 1, the DGCA insisted, pointing to recent pilot deaths as a matter of urgency.

Underlining the importance of addressing fatigue among flight crew, the DGCA wrote to the Federation of Indian Airlines (FIA) on March 14, saying that “the unfortunate instances of pilot deaths in the recent past, ostensibly due to punishing roster schedules and [the] consequent cumulative attendant impact on flight crew health and well-being, is an urgent wake-up call to address the issue without further delay.”

The regulator reiterated that the airlines must take all necessary steps to implement the revised rules from June 1, and also submit their internal company schemes conforming to the new norms by April 15.

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More pilots needed

The FIA, which represents IndiGo, Air India, and SpiceJet, had earlier written to the DGCA, warning that implementing the new norms from June 1 “will have immediate and significant impact on businesses and customers alike” as airlines will require 15% to 25% more pilots. 

In its January 8 notification, the DGCA had revised pilot duty hours to provide for more rest time and to restrict night flying. Pilots claimed that night flying disturbed their circadian rhythms and alertness levels and contributed to mounting levels of fatigue. 

The DGCA expanded the definition of night duty, which was earlier counted from midnight to 5 a.m., by raising the upper ceiling to 6 a.m. It also restricted the maximum number of landings a pilot could carry out during the night hours to two, from the earlier six, and reduced flight time during night duty shifts from 10 hours to eight.

In August 2023, IndiGo pilot Manoj Balasubramani, who was rostered to fly a Nagpur to Pune flight, fell unconscious at the boarding gate due to a cardiac arrest and died soon afterwards. This incident renewed calls from pilots to look into their mounting fatigue levels due to an “exponential increase” in flying hours post-COVID, even as airlines were simultaneously grappling with crew shortages.