Pilot bodies move Delhi HC against govt’s relaxation of flight duty norms; Centre says it has authority

The court orally said govt authorities should have approached it before granting relaxations, to which the latter said it is empowered to make such exemptions

Two pilots’ bodies — Indian Pilots Guild and Federation of Indian Pilots — have objected to the regulatory body and the government’s actions. (Credit: Unsplash)

The Delhi High Court Tuesday sought responses from the Directorate General of Civil Aviation and the Ministry of Civil Aviation in two petitions accusing the authorities of being in contempt of court for failing to implement the Flight and Duty Time Limitations (FDTL) as per the Civil Aviation Requirement (CAR) policy of 2024.

The court orally opined that the government authorities should have approached the court first before making relaxations and granting certain airlines exemptions from implementation of the new norms. The government pushed back, stating that it is empowered under the statutory provisions to make such exemptions without approaching the court first.

Two pilots’ bodies — Indian Pilots Guild and Federation of Indian Pilots — have objected to the regulatory body and the government’s actions. They stressed that such relaxations “materially dilute and deviate from the court-accepted FDTL framework and timelines,” and that making way for such relaxations and exemptions, without taking permission of the court or re-engaging the pilot bodies, “constitute deliberate non-compliance warranting punishment for contempt.”

The bodies’ counsel argued, “To my understanding, after this latest fiasco which has been created by IndiGo, and I use the word ‘created’ quite responsibly, what has happened is now the DGCA has simply suspended some of the clauses, saying these don’t need to be implemented because apparently IndiGo has misjudged the requirement of pilots, that’s the reason given. That is a completely different litigation… I’m only saying that today, this is the CAR that you (DGCA) said will get implemented, please implement that CAR which was actually the result of a collaborative process…”

After the IndiGo crisis hit thousands of flights across airports as it was caught grossly unprepared for the new crew rest norms, DGCA had granted the airline a temporary one-time exemption from some night operations-related changes in the new FDTL norms for its Airbus A320 pilots. The temporary rollback, which will be in place till February 10, is likely to help IndiGo stabilise operations.

The Centre and DGCA’s counsel Anjana Gosain, however, countered the petitioners’ assertion before Justice Amit Sharma, saying, “The CAR remains the same, but it does not mean that the regulator’s inherent power cannot be exercised [to grant relaxations/exemptions on implementing in toto] and if variations are there, power is there with DGCA. Those variations are temporary…”

Addressing Gosain, Justice Sharma orally remarked, “Point is, if so many meetings were taking place before this was finalised and then placed by you [DGCA] before the court, and the court passed an order saying ‘alright issue this in timeline’, the whole idea behind the meeting was there was consensus. If there was any variation that had to be done, you had to inform the court. You may have the power, no difficulty in that.”

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Gosain, however, argued, “In an emergency or any kind of situation, I cannot run to this court saying ‘these variations are there’.These variations are only temporary and are under review every few weeks. There is a complete procedure for exemptions which we have followed.”

Justice Sharma then issued notice to the DGCA and Ministry, directing them to file on affidavit their response to the averments made by the pilot bodies. It has kept the matter for hearing next on April 17, 2026.

What were the exemptions granted?

The new FDTL rules were implemented in two phases — from July 1 and November 1 — with the aim of better managing pilot fatigue, which is a key risk to aviation safety.

Under the new rules, the weekly rest period for pilots was increased to 48 hours from 36, and night landings were limited to two from six earlier.

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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.

The exemptions that were granted to IndiGo include that the definition of ‘night’ for the airline 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.

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The DGCA has also released 12 Flight Operations Inspectors (FOIs) on deputation with it from IndiGo for flying duties and simulator checks for a week.

The DGCA order on the one-time exemptions stated that they are being granted solely to facilitate operational stabilisation and must not be construed as dilution of safety requirements. Additionally, it withdrew a clause related to a 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.