NEW DELHI: Amid the ongoing West Asia crisis forcing aircraft from India to take longer routes to avoid Iranian airspace, Air India has requested the aviation regulator, the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA), to grant a temporary exemption from the Flight Duty Time Limitation rules for its international pilots. Multiple sources confirmed the development.
IndiGo had faced a major operational crisis in December after it was unable to comply with the revised FDTL rules last year. The airline’s operations were affected for nine days and the impact continued for the rest of the month. The DGCA later granted an exemption to allow the airline time to address the issue.
A source told this newspaper, “We have asked for exemption only until the West Asia crisis subsides. Due to the closure of the Pakistani airspace since last year and now the Iranian airspace, our flights to Paris, Frankfurt, Amsterdam, Vienna and Copenhagen are forced to take a circuitous route. They fly via Oman, South of Saudi Arabia and then Egypt before heading to these European destinations. The flying time has shot up by a few hours to each of these cities. ”
Another source said there is only a limited pool of available pilots. “Ever since the West Asia crisis broke out, Air India has earmarked three pilots instead of two for every London flight. A similar standard needs to be adhered to all our international flights which used to go via West Asian airspace. Hence, we need some kind of exemption.”
Under the new FDTL rules, pilots must be given a weekly rest period of 48 hours, compared with 36 hours earlier. “International pilots of Indian carriers are allowed a maximum duty period of 13 hours during day duty and 10 hours during night duty,” said a senior pilot.
The DGCA did not respond to queries from this reporter on the issue.