Air India has approached the aviation regulator, the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA), seeking a temporary relaxation in pilot duty norms to operate certain long-haul flights after being forced to take longer routes due to the closure of airspace over West Asia.
Flights to North America, including Toronto, are operating with increased flight times and making a fuel stop in Rome due to the unavailability of these airspaces.
To be sure, Indian airlines or any aircraft registered in India have not been allowed to use Pakistan airspace since April last year following the Pahalgam attack. This means that long-haul and ultra-long-haul Indian flights are going further south to avoid the restricted airspaces.
Officials aware of the development said Air India is currently the only airline to have made such a request. The airline has sought a variation from the prescribed Flight Duty Time Limitations (FDTL), citing operational constraints triggered by the airspace restrictions that have lengthened block times on several routes.
Under the existing FDTL rules, the maximum flying time permitted for a two-pilot crew is 10 hours, while the maximum Flight Duty Period (FDP) is capped at 13 hours.
“Air India has requested permission to extend the flying time to 11 hours and 30 minutes, which is an increase of 1 hour and 30 minutes over the current limit,” an official said.
{{/usCountry}}“Air India has requested permission to extend the flying time to 11 hours and 30 minutes, which is an increase of 1 hour and 30 minutes over the current limit,” an official said.
{{/usCountry}}“The airline has also sought to increase the permissible FDP to 14 hours and 45 minutes, which would be 1 hour and 45 minutes more than the present cap,” the official added.
Another official said, “In its submission to the regulator, Air India said the request is necessitated by the closure of airspace over Iran and Iraq, forcing aircraft to take longer diversionary routings and thereby increasing the total block time on affected sectors.”
He, however, clarified, “The request is currently under examination by the aviation regulator.”