Following pressure from airlines, the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) on March 26 quietly put in abeyance its June 1 deadline for implementing revised duty norms for pilots that provided for enhanced rest.
In the amended Civil Aviation Requirement (CAR) uploaded on March 26, the DGCA said that airlines may continue to follow the older norms of 2019 till the regulator approves their internal schemes complying with the revised rules notified on January 1. It has not defined any timeline within which the rules have to be implemented, in contrast to the earlier version of the same CAR. In that, the DGCA had said unequivocally that the rules will have to be implemented no later than June 1.
Tuesday’s move comes as a surprise as the regulator on multiple occasions had said that it would not succumb to “scaremongering” by airlines. The Federation of Indian Airlines, representing Air India, IndiGo and SpiceJet wrote to the DGCA in February seeking a postponement of the June 1 deadline on the ground that implementing new norms would require them to hire “15% to 25%” more pilots for which they needed 8-10 months. Else, there would be cancellation of 15% to 20% flights in the peak summer travel season.
In response, the DGCA reiterated that airlines must prepare to implement the new rules from June 1. The new rules provide for weekly rest of 48 hours for pilots instead of 36 hours and curtail night-time flying, known to cause fatigue.
The DGCA had also said that recent deaths of pilots ostensibly due to hectic rosters were a “wake-up” call for airlines. Pilots have called Tuesday’s decision “questionable” and one that shows that “safety has taken a backseat”.
