NEW DELHI: Amid the ongoing West Asian crisis that is forcing planes from India to take longer routes to avoid Iranian airspace, Air India has asked the aviation regulator, the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA), to grant a temporary exemption from duty time restriction rules for its international pilots. Multiple sources confirmed the development.
IndiGo had faced a major operational crisis in December after it was unable to meet the revised FDTL rules last year. Airline operations were affected for nine days and the impact continued for the rest of the month. The DGCA later granted an exemption to give the airline time to address the issue.
A source told this newspaper, “We have asked for the exemption only until the West Asian crisis calms down. Due to the closure of Pakistani airspace since last year and now Iranian airspace, our flights to Paris, Frankfurt, Amsterdam, Vienna and Copenhagen are forced to take a circuitous route. They fly through Oman, the southern European destination before leaving Egypt for Saudi Arabia and then. by a few hours in each of these cities.
Another source said there is only a limited pool of pilots available. “Ever since the West Asian crisis erupted, Air India has assigned three pilots instead of two to every London flight. A similar standard must be observed for all our international flights passing through West Asian airspace. Therefore, we need some kind of exemption.”
Under the new FDTL rules, pilots must be given a weekly rest period of 48 hours, compared to 36 hours previously. “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 this reporter’s queries on the matter.
