In the past few months, there were various instances of pilots suffering from cardiac arrest, leading to causation that they were being subject to fatigue as airlines worked them more and more, especially for red-eye flights. While the cause and effect was not directly established, at least publicly acknowledged, the Indian aviation regulator, DGCA, rolled out a draft guideline in 2023 and asked for public comment.

DGCA introduces new finalised guidelines for flight duty times

Today, the Indian aviation regulator, DGCA, rolled out new guidelines for flight duty time limitations. These guidelines go into effect by June 1, 2024, at the latest. The intervening period will be used by airlines to tweak their processes and their software and organise their human resources effectively to be in a position to put these guidelines into effect from the date.

The revised regulations mandate an increased weekly rest period of 48 hours (compared to the current 36 hours), including two local nights. Also, the definition of “night” has been changed from 0000 hours to 0600 hours. Earlier on, the period used to be between 0000 and 0500 hours. The Window of Circadian Low (WOCL), when the body clock is at its lowest form of alertness, is defined as the time between 0200 and 0600 hours.

The DGCA also wants to see a quarterly fatigue report and an analysis of what was done about the filings made by the crew.

Other changes include the maximum flight time, maximum flight duty period and the number of landings that can be made during the night. The maximum flight time and flight duty period for flights that are encroaching night operations have been restricted to 8 hours flight time and 10 hours flight duty period, respectively. Further, the crewmember can now only make two landings, compared to a maximum of six landings permissible during the current FDTL regulations.

The Indian minister in charge of civil aviation tweeted this.

A bunch of much-awaited reforms in Flight Duty Time Limitations for our pilots has come through.

After in-depth analysis of pilot rosters, fatigue-related reports and direct feedback from pilots, we have introduced revised “FDTL Regulations” that include, increased rest…

— Jyotiraditya M. Scindia (मोदी का परिवार) (@JM_Scindia) January 8, 2024

 

Mainly, this move will set off an even more significant requirement for talent, as more pilots will probably be promoted to commanders, and hence, more would need to be hired. If this adversely affects the talent pool of any carrier in India, it needs to be seen.

Bottomline

India’s Civil Aviation Regulator, the DGCA, has amended and notified the Flight Duty Timelines, which should come into effect by  June 1, 2024, at the carriers that are regulated by it. It can also be done sooner if the airline has all its systems and processes aligned. The new guidelines offer a more extended rest period to the pilots and, hence, a lower utilisation of them by the airline. This should hopefully reduce the instances of fatigue.

What do you make of the new FDTL guidelines issued by DGCA for Indian carriers?

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