Amid massive flight disruptions being faced by IndiGo, aviation regulator Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) on Friday granted the airline a temporary one-time exemption from some night operations-related changes in the new Flight Duty Time Limitation (FDTL) norms for pilots till February 10, according to sources in the know. The airline–India’s largest with a domestic market share of over 60 per cent–had on Thursday requested the DGCA for the exemptions till February 10. The airline had also informed the regulator that it will start reducing flight operations from Monday (December 8) to minimise the disruption, and expected normalised and stable operations to be fully restored by February 10.
The DGCA order on the one-time exemptions stated that they are being granted solely to facilitate operational stabilization and must not be construed as dilution of safety requirements, it is learnt. New FDTL rules were implemented in two phases–from July 1 and November 1–with the aim of better managing pilot fatigue–a key risk to aviation safety. Pilot associations criticised the decision to grant exemptions to IndiGo, and demanded the exemptions to be withdrawn.
With these exemptions, the definition of ‘night’ for IndiGo will mean midnight to 5 am, instead of midnight to 6 am, as prescribed in the new FDTL rules. The exemptions also allow IndiGo pilots flying during these hours to perform up to six landings; the new norms had capped night landings to just two.
Additionally, the DGCA has also withdrawn a clause related to weekly rest period for all airlines in view of the disruptions. The new FDTL norms stipulated that no other leaves could be substituted against the mandatory weekly rest period of 48 hours for pilots; this has been withdrawn with immediate effect, according to sources.
The exemptions will be reviewed fortnightly with the airline required to submit every two weeks a progress report on actual utilisation of crew, steps taken to improve crew availability, operability improvements achieved, and revised crew planning and rostering measures. The airline was also directed by the regulator to submit within 30 days a roadmap for full compliance with the new FDTL rules.
In a meeting with the DGCA on Thursday, IndiGo accepted that it had misjudged its flight crew requirement under the new FDTL rules, which became the primary cause of the widespread disruption, which the airline has been grappling with since Monday. With each passing day, the scale of the disruption has expanded. On Friday, over 500 IndiGo flights were cancelled at major airports, with all domestic departures from its Delhi hub cancelled till midnight.
Under the new FDTL rules, weekly rest period for pilots was increased to 48 hours from 36, and night landings were limited to two from six earlier. The new norms also extended the definition of night hours and capped consecutive night duties to just two days a week. The night duty-related changes took effect from November 1, and started impacting IndiGo’s flight operations, as the airline operates a significant number of night-time flights and follows a model that relies on high utilisation rates for aircraft and crew.
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The primary reason for this disruption is crew shortages in the wake of the new FDTL rules. As per the DGCA, IndiGo informed it that the disruptions “have arisen primarily from misjudgement and planning gaps in implementing” the second phase of new FDTL rules, with the airline accepting that the actual crew requirement for the new rules exceeded what it had anticipated. According to data presented to the DGCA by IndiGo, with the new FDTL rules, it requires 2,422 captains and 2,153 first officers to operate its Airbus A320 fleet to maintain stable operations. But it currently has 2,357 captains and 2,194 first officers operating the A320 aircraft.
Although the new FDTL rules apply to all domestic airlines, IndiGo has been the most severely-affected carrier. The factors that have made IndiGo more vulnerable, according to industry sources, include its massive scale of operations, a high-frequency network, significant number of night and wee hour flights, and high aircraft and crew utilisation levels, leaving little elbow room for the airline to manage crew shortages.
With its fleet of over 400 aircraft, IndiGo operates over 2,300 flights a day, and follows a lean staffing model. By contrast, the next biggest airline group—Air India—operates less than half the number of flights IndiGo operates.
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