Pilot duty rules' exemptions for airlines weigh in heavy on DGCA’s summer schedule plan

NEW DELHI: Aviation authorities have begun the process of determining how many flights — both domestic and international — will operate this summer. The Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) will weigh in pilot availability of airlines while approving their summer schedules that will be effective March 29 to avoid a crisis like the one seen by IndiGo two months back.

But determining pilot availability is proving to be a tightrope walk as all big Indian carriers have got regulatory exemption from certain clauses of flight duty time limitation (FDTL) rules for cockpit crew. These exemptions lapse next month end, when the summer schedule kicks in. Airlines have sought an extension for the same and the regulator is reviewing their requests.

Airlines’ ability to operate any given number of flights will depend on that decision. Withdrawing FDTL exemptions will mean fewer flights in peak summer travel season, higher fares and public outcry — something Govt will be keen to avoid. And extending them will lead to concerns over fatigued crew streching themselves, something that adversely affects flight safety. Clearly, aviation authorities are in a Catch 22 situation given airlines’ arguments on one side and pilot community concerns on the other.

Air India, for instance, has been taking longer routes on its flights to and from the west due to geopolitical reasons. As per rules, they are supposed to have three pilots for flights that are over 10-hour long. Since all flights between north India (Delhi being AI’s primary hub) and the west are impacted due to Pakistan airspace closure, they have an exemption for having two pilots on flights that take upto 10.5 hours.

If US-Iran tensions flare up, overflying Iraq (overflying Iran was stopped since late last month) will also be impacted. Which means the already impacted north India routes will get even longer and west & south India routes will also get longer. Withdrawing the exemption for AI’s Boeing 787 pilots will mean fewer Maharaja flights to and from the UK & Europe.

“Due to airport infra crunch, IndiGo and Akasa mostly get night slots at busy hubs in India. They have sought exemption from night time utilisation of pilots for this reason as otherwise the number of flights will not grow to cope with rising traffic but actually decline,” said people in the know. Accordingly, IndiGo has requested that night time be considered from midnight to 5 am, instead of till 6 am. And three landings be allowed by pilots between midnight and 2 am, as opposed to the allowed two. Not getting an extension could see IndiGo alone drop many flights.

Pilots, on their part, say the current situation has arisen primarily due to the fact that airlines have almost always had their way with the DGCA for getting exemptions. While they were supposed to deal with events beyond anyone’s control like airspace closures forcing longer routes, many airlines took exemptions for granted and charted their growth path accordingly. Only after AI 171 crash last summer and then IndiGo schedule collapse in Dec exemptions — which were to be an exception and not the norm — same under the glare with pilots openly speaking against them.

“The fact is apart from poor planning, airlines managements went slow on pilot hiring and career progression of pilots (like co-pilots being made captains) to keep their wage bill in check. As a result, fatigue, stress and inhuman rosters had become a reality till everyone was forced to wake up two months back,” said many senior captains. IndiGo and Air India recently resumed pilot hiring at trainee first officer level after almost 1.5 years.

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