New Delhi, April 7 – The Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) has temporarily allowed airlines to extend flight duty time for pilots on long-haul flights, as planes are required to take longer routes on international flights due to the Iran war, a senior official of the Civil Aviation Ministry said on Tuesday.
The relaxation of the pilot flight duty time limitation (FDTL) norm has been permitted because airlines were facing difficulties due to the longer flying hours now required for flights, as countries in the Middle East have closed their airspace. Joint Secretary, Ministry of Civil Aviation, Asangba Chuba Ao, told journalists that this was the situation.
The DGCA introduced new flight duty norms last year to limit the flying time for pilots in order to prevent fatigue, which poses a risk to flight safety. According to the new rules, pilots must be given 48 hours of continuous rest, which is an increase from the 36 hours fixed in the earlier norms.
However, due to the Iran war, the flight time to western destinations has been extended because aircraft are forced to take long detours to avoid the Middle East conflict zone. This poses problems for airlines to operate within the limits imposed on pilot flight duty time.
The DGCA had given certain relaxations in pilot flight duty time limitations (FDTL) norms until April 30. Providing relaxations for long-haul flights operated with two pilots, the DGCA has extended the Flight Time (FT) by 1.30 hours to 11.30 hours and the Flight Duty Period (FDP) by 1.45 hours to 11.45 hours.
Flying time covers the total time taken from the moment an aircraft first moves for the purpose of taking off from the runway until the moment it finally comes to a halt at the end of the flight.
The DGCA had introduced more robust measures to ensure compliance by airlines with regulations, which include increased monitoring on a weekly and fortnightly basis for critical operations, along with bi-monthly visits to the operator by DGCA's principal point-of-contact inspector.
The civil aviation regulator is also closely monitoring the operations of airlines, with particular emphasis on roster integrity, crew availability, buffer adequacy, system robustness, and adherence to FDTL requirements.