New Delhi: Despite requests from several airlines to postpone the new pilot duty norms, the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) has remained firm on its position and has reiterated that the revised schedule will be implemented from June 1.
According to the new rules, the weekly rests for pilots which was earlier 36 hours per week has now been extended to 48 hours per week, thus "ensuring sufficient time for recovery from cumulative fatigue" as per the DGCA.
Similarly, for purpose of night duty, the definition of night has been amended and will now cover period from midnight to 6 AM instead of midnight to 5 AM under the earlier rule. The maximum flight duty period for flights encroaching night-time has also been reduced from 10 to eight hours.
Maximum duty time and number of landings that pilots can make is restricted to two under the revised rules. Also, it is compulsory for all airlines to submit quarterly fatigue reports, which “should follow a non-punitive and confidentiality policy".
Reacting to this, an airline pilot, on conditions of anonymity, told ETV Bharat that "This is a bold move and the pilots who cover the domestic sector are welcoming it. However, there are some issues which still needs to be addressed", referring to a request for a prohibition on consecutive night duties which has went unheeded.
Similarly, another senior pilot working with a flying school, sought anonymity and said that he welcomed the move. "This step taken by the DGCA should be welcomed because pilot fatigue is a serious issue and it remained unaddressed for so long," he added.
Why are the Airlines opposing it? It is pertinent to note here that a coalition of major Indian airlines, including IndiGo, Air India, Vistara and SpiceJet, represented by the Federation of Indian Airlines (FIA) last month urged the DGCA to postpone the implementation of new regulations governing pilot rest and duty periods by a year citing that about 25 per cent more pilots would be needed to implement the new norms.
The FIA further added that they won’t be able to hire and train these many pilots by June 1 and cautioned that failure to extend the deadline could lead to the cancellation of 15 per cent to 20 per cent of flights across multiple airlines, including certain long-haul international flights.
Although, the DGCA has rejected these request but this issue has raised whether the airfares are likely to be impacted by this. ETV Bharat tried contacting the aviation body, Federation of Indian Pilots (FIP), but queries remained unanswered with some officials not receiving calls and the rest refusing to comment.
According to a senior official in the Ministry of Civil Aviation, "there are a total of 10,000 registered pilots in India." A senior pilot commenting on this said that the only reason for the airlines to oppose this move is due to the fact that more and more pilots would be needed once this move from DGCA would come into effect and this might alter the business calculations.
While the DGCA has remained rock-solid on its stand till now and has informed that the airlines must provide the revised schemes by April 15, only time will tell whether the passengers will have to bear the brunt of this or not.
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