Pilots’ body moves HC against DGCA’s FDTL exemptions

The Indian Pilots Guild (IPG), a union of Air India pilots deployed on wide-bodied aircraft (Boeing 777 and 787), has moved the Delhi high court seeking initiation of contempt proceedings against the Director General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) and the Union government for granting exemptions to airline operators, including Air India, from implementing the new Flight Duty Time Limitation (FDTL) norms.

- Shruti Kakkar

In its petition, filed through advocates Prerna Kohli and Neetika Bajaj, the IPG has asserted that the DGCA allegedly failed to comply with the undertakings given to the court in February and April.

In February, DGCA informed the high court that the FDTL norms would be implemented in two phases. Of the 22 proposed clauses, 15, including increasing pilots’ weekly rest from 36 to 48 hours, were scheduled to take effect from July 1. The remaining seven, including the revised definition of night duty, were to be implemented as of November 1. The changes deferred to November proposed classifying duty periods between midnight and 6 am as night duty, instead of the current midnight to 5 am window.

In April, the high court closed petitions by FIP and other pilot unions challenging the DGCA’s 2019 rest-period norms after the regulator undertook to implement the new rules in phases.