Hold the line on pilot rest

DGCA, in the past, has relaxed the implementation of pilot duty and rest rules several times. Now, it must enforce the March 2027 deadline it has set

The Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) has purportedly told airlines that no relaxations to pilot duty and rest rules will be allowed from March 2027, when the Flight Duty Time Limitations (FDTL) take full effect. The regulator has set such dates before, but this one has to hold.

Tired pilots make mistakes, and in a cockpit, mistakes kill. Fatigue was among the causes identified in the 2010 crash of an Air India Express flight at Mangaluru, which killed 158 people. (HT Archive)

Pilots have fought for these rules since 2012, when their associations petitioned the Delhi High Court for fatigue norms in line with global practice. The court closed the case only in April 2025, after DGCA committed to phasing in rules notified in January 2024: one set of provisions from July 2025, and the second, governing night operations, from November 2025. That second phase was deferred for all airlines after IndiGo’s operations collapsed in December, when cancellations affected more than a million passengers. A one-time relaxation followed, and the conflict in West Asia then supplied a reason to extend it. Fourteen years after the litigation began, the full rules are still not in force.

Tired pilots make mistakes, and in a cockpit, mistakes kill. Fatigue was among the causes identified in the 2010 crash of an Air India Express flight at Mangaluru, which killed 158 people. The provisions still deferred govern night flying, the hardest hours for a fatigued crew.

The airlines had a real case during the war. Costlier fuel and longer routes stretched them financially and operationally, but longer routes also mean longer duties, which strengthens the case for rest limits.

Pilot bodies told the regulator in July that IndiGo and Air India had enough pilots to implement the second phase without variations, and that airlines had ample time to hire and to rework their rosters. If that assessment is correct, the industry has run out of reasons. The courts have said as much before: in 2018, the Delhi High Court held that a shortage of staff cannot justify overworking pilots. An airline that cannot staff its schedule within the limits should fly a smaller schedule.

DGCA’s task between now and March is narrow. It should allow no extension of the current relaxations beyond the deadline, entertain no fresh ones, and enforce the rules as notified from the first day.