Pilots’ body seeks withdrawal of Flight Duty Time Limitation relaxations to IndiGo, Air India

The Federation of Indian Pilots (FIP) has urged the Ministry of Civil Aviation to fully implement Flight Duty Time Limitation (FDTL) rules without dispensations, citing safety concerns. They want relaxations given to IndiGo and Air India withdrawn.

In a detailed letter addressed to the Civil Aviation Minister K Ram Mohan Naidu, FIP said the FDTL regulations, framed in line with ICAO Annex 6, were a “safety necessity” and not an operational burden, warning that repeated relaxations had compromised aviation safety.

“The FDTL regulations which are in accordance with ICAO Annex 6 are scientifically made and are mandatory in every country to ensure ‘AIR SAFETY’,” FIP president C S Randhawa said in the letter dated December 18.

The pilots’ body recalled that the original FDTL CAR 7/J/III issued in April 2019 had several shortcomings and did not incorporate the findings of Dr Nasim Zaidi Committee. This led FIP to approach the Delhi High Court, following which the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) revised the norms through Rev 1 and later Rev 2, incorporating the committee’s recommendations.

After prolonged hearings, the Delhi High Court, on March 26, 2024, directed implementation of CAR 7/J/III Rev 2. However, airlines sought phased implementation, leading to 15 clauses being enforced from July 1, 2025, and the remaining seven from November 1, 2025.

FIP underlined that FDTL norms are crucial “to promote air safety”, ensure pilot alertness, reduce fatigue-linked errors, protect pilots from chronic fatigue and enhance passenger safety.

Despite this, the pilots’ body said that in October 2025, even before the second phase came into effect, the DGCA began granting dispensations, mainly relating to night duty rules. FIP argued that such dispensations could only be issued under “extreme circumstances” and, in this case, should have required the high court’s permission.

For IndiGo, the DGCA rolled back the night duty definition from 0000–0600 hours to 0000–0500 hours and permitted additional landings under certain conditions. The regulator also modified rest period norms related to published leave.

Similar relaxations were granted to Air India, including permitting additional landings during night duty due to delays, modifying rest requirements for management pilots, altering rules for consecutive night operations, extending flight time and flight duty period limits, and granting variations for ultra-long-range operations.

The situation escalated in December when IndiGo cancelled nearly 6,000 flights between December 2 and December 12, causing widespread disruption. FIP said that following this, the DGCA granted further relief to IndiGo on December 5.

These included a one-time relaxation waiving night duty rules, waiving limits for operations encroaching night duty, and placing the entire FDTL CAR dated March 26, 2024, “held in abeyance till February 10, 2026”. “The decision was to be reviewed every 15 days. A permanent dispensation allowing substitution of leave for weekly rest was also withdrawn for all airlines,” said Randhawa.

FIP strongly contested the narrative that the crisis was caused by FDTL rules or crew shortage. “The most concerning points which caused a national aviation crisis… are attributable neither to adherence to new FDTL rules nor crew shortage but a total failure of the system,” the letter read.

It claimed aircraft and crews were available, but flight dispatch was not authorised to release flights, leading to chaos. The federation said IndiGo may have been short of only 65 to 70 captains, which “cannot lead to mass cancellations of flights”, and alleged a deliberate attempt to force withdrawal of the new FDTL norms.

While the government later curtailed 10 per cent of IndiGo’s flights and redistributed them to other carriers, FIP noted that the “open dispensation of the FDTL to IndiGo” was not withdrawn.

The federation also disputed claims of pilot shortage, stating that Air India, Air India Express and IndiGo together had more than adequate pilots for their operational aircraft, once maintenance and AOG factors were accounted for.

“Therefore, all dispensations and variations granted to airlines should be withdrawn with immediate effect to avoid compromising safety,” the letter said.

FIP urged systemic reforms to prevent future crises, including linking schedule approvals and aircraft induction strictly to manpower and infrastructure availability, increasing DGCA oversight, involving pilot bodies in regulation-making, and ensuring fatigue reporting without fear of penalisation.

Concluding, the federation stressed that “safety should never be compromised for commercial interests of the airlines” and reiterated the need for “full compliance of FDTL regulations without any dispensations/variations” to ensure safe skies.