CHENNAI: The excessive lobbying by airlines seems to have borne fruit as country’s aviation regulator DGCA has put on hold the implementation of new duty norms for pilots from June 1.
The is a big setback for pilot community and cabin crew who were anticipating less stringent working hours.
“All operators engaged in scheduled air transport operations may continue to operate in compliance with CAR Section 7 Series J Part III Issue Ill dated 24*h April 2019 till approval of their respective scheme in compliance with this CAR,” said DGCA in a notification on Tuesday.
To address fatigue among pilots and crew, DGCA in January increased mandatory weekly rest period for flight crew to 48 hours from the previous 36 hours. DGCA also cut the maximum flight duty period to 10 hours from 13 hours for pilots working nights and limited the number of flight landings to two, from six, during night operations.
Airlines opposed this measures as they said the new rule would increase working force requirements by 15-20% and it won’t be possible to implement it by June 1. The revised Flight Duty Time Limitations (FDTL) norms for flight crew were coming at a time when there are rising concerns about pilot fatigue, especially after a spate of pilot deaths last year.