New DGCA Guidelines Allow More Rest To Pilots Who Say The Proof Of The Pudding Is In The Eating

For pilots, operating while exhausted is all in a day’s work. They often remain vulnerable to fatigue because of long duty hours, circadian disruption (disturbance of biological timing), and insufficient sleep. They had long been complaining about unregulated rostering impacting the health of the flight crew.

In April last year, the Indian Commercial Pilots’ Association (ICPA) wrote to Air India, demanding that their grievances against the roster system be redressed. Additionally, the death of two young pilots due to cardiac arrest a few months apart last year underscored the reality of pilot fatigue and the need for reforms.

The Reforms

In the revised FDTL guidelines, the Directorate General of Civil Aviation has increased the weekly rest period for pilots to 48 hours from the previous 36 hours. The night duty has been redefined as midnight to 6 am, extending it by an hour.

The DGCA has also limited the maximum flight time and maximum flight duty period for night operations to 8 hours and 10 hours, respectively. The number of landings has been limited to only 2 landings as compared to a maximum of 6 landings under previous regulations for night operations, enhancing flight safety.

For flight crew, a provision for fatigue management has been added to annual training organised by airlines. Flight operators are also required to prepare a quarterly report, which should note the action taken by them to address issues of fatigue.

Aviation Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia has termed these changes “a bunch of much-awaited reforms” that have come after an in-depth analysis of pilot rosters, fatigue-related reports and direct feedback from pilots.

“In addition, we will soon transition towards a new regime of fatigue management i.e. Fatigue Risk Management System (FRMS), which will be a data-driven approach to enhance monitoring of flight crew fatigue,” he added.

The DGCA had proposed a draft of the revised Flight Duty Time Limitations (FDTL) in November last year and sought comments from the stakeholders. Subsequently, the new guidelines were announced and mandated compliance from airlines by June 2024.

The Secretariat had published a report in November on the draft FDTL, arguing that the guidelines could be a blessing for the flight crew and job seekers.

Delay In Implementation

However, all does not seem rosy with the new guidelines and the first complaints have come from the pilots themselves. Many of them highlighted how the outcome of the changes in the FDTL hinges on the implementation of these guidelines. Some also questioned the delay in the implementation.

“As for the weekly rest period, it’s good. However, many details will be known after the new FDTL is implemented by the airlines,” Captain JJ Nijhawan, a member of the Indian Pilots Guild, said.

He added that several recommendations given by the pilots to the DGCA during the drafting phase have been overlooked. “The local night definition is now left to the airlines. They can define it differently on different nights and get away with it.”

Shakti Lumba, former Vice President of IndiGo, said there is indeed a relief to pilots with the increase in weekly offs and night operations. “However, there is no immediate respite as the guidelines will be implemented after 6 months,” he said.

“The basic guidelines remain the same as the previous one. The devil is in the small print. Its applicability is June 2024 and not forthwith. This (the delay) may have been done so that operators are not inconvenienced during the rush period as it's a lean period for travel after June,” Lumba added.

The aviation sector is poised to grow rapidly in the coming years. Already, the domestic air passenger traffic in FY24 is projected to touch 155 million while the number of grounded aircraft of the domestic carriers is expected to be around 200, according to a PTI report that cited the findings of aviation advisory firm CAPA India.

The report also said the international air passenger traffic in India is anticipated to be about 70 million in the year ending March 2024. Separately, an International Air Transport Association (IATA) projection says India could become the third-largest air passenger market by 2028, behind the US and China.

As the aviation sector gains momentum, these new FDTL guidelines may play a key role in shaping the industry going forward.