Centre to revise flight duty time limit

Airlines are trying to reduce fatigue reports. Representation Pic

The Central government is working to revise the flight duty time limitations (FDTL) for airline crews which will enhance safety and reduce the risk of errors. The move comes months after a previous revision of FDTL, which was to come into effect from June 1 this year, had to be withdrawn amid concerns from industry experts. Three officials close to the development also confirmed the same.

The Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) was reworking to revise the FDTL after industry experts raised concerns over crew fatigue and its impact on flight safety. "The draft FDTL that was introduced in January this year could not be implemented as scrutiny revealed that they were not practical," officials said. "They were introduced with an aim to de-stress the crew," the official added. Another official said, "The DGCA is reworking the duty time limitations in a way that it brings in relaxed duty hours for the pilots while not making it challenging for the industry to execute it."

At the time when previous revisions to the FDTL were announced, several airlines had claimed that the revised norms, which enhanced a pilot's weekly rest period from 36 to 48 hours, would require them to hire around 20 per cent more pilots, thereby increasing the cost for them besides impacting their flight operations. The draft rules had also redefined the night duty for pilots and brought in restrictions on the number of landings that could be made if a pilot's duty began or continued at night. The number of landings was brought down to two from the maximum permissible limit of six under regulations during night operations.

The DGCA, however, rolled out a copy of the revised Civil Aviation Requirements (CAR) on March 26, which postponed the move for an indefinite period. Commenting on the development at the time, aviation expert Captain Shakti Lumba had alleged that DGCA reversed its stand. The government's aim, according to a third official, is to transition towards a new Fatigue Risk Management System (FRMS), which will be a data-driven approach to enhance monitoring of flight crew fatigue.

Also, airlines seem to be working towards reducing the fatigue reports by their crew. Last week, Air India brought in changes in its fatigue monitoring policy. The airline, which has a committee to examine fatigue calls by pilots and cabin crew, has now made it mandatory for the management to mark all fatigue calls in the system, which will be further assessed by the airline's medical and flight operations' department.

"All these benefits ultimately boil down to the following four aspects - enhanced safety, fewer delays, potential schedule changes, and improved service quality," said a senior pilot and flight instructor who is also a staffer with a prominent airline. "Fatigue is a significant risk factor in aviation, so limiting crew work hours ensures that pilots and other essential crew are more alert, reducing the risk of errors," he explained.

A Ministry of Civil Aviation staffer said, "To comply with new duty time limitations, airlines may need to adjust flight schedules, which could affect flight availability or lead to slightly longer layovers in certain cases. Some airlines will have to hire more staff in order to keep the number of flights operated by them the same, but some airlines might choose to operate reduced flights on some sectors."