DGCA Gives Flight Duty Time Relaxations To Air India Amid Middle East Conflict

Aviation safety watchdog DGCA has provided temporary relaxations in flight duty norms for Air India's long-haul flights as the airline is taking longer routes due to the airspace curbs amid the Middle East conflict, sources said on Sunday.

With Iranian and Iraqi airspace restrictions, Air India is taking the Egypt route for European and North American flights, which means longer flying hours.

Against this backdrop, the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) has given certain relaxations in pilot Flight Duty Time Limitations (FDTL) norms till April 30, the sources told PTI.

There were no comments from Air India and DGCA on the FDTL norm relaxations. Providing the relaxations for the long-haul flights operated with two pilots, the sources said, adding that DGCA has extended the Flight Time (FT) by 1.30 hours to 11.30 hours and the Flight Duty Period (FDP) by 1.45 hours to 11.45 hours.

Sources say that Air India has been violating the relaxation by planning its Jeddah flight, which has an FDP of 11.45 hours.

"While flight duty period (FDP) has been extended by 1.45 hours, Air India is forcing its pilots to operate Jeddah flight, which has an FDP of 11.55 hours, thus exceeding the allowed relaxations by 10-minutes," a source said.

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Exemption has also been provided with respect to the 30-minute roster planning buffer requirement, they added.

For a single landing, the maximum FT and FDP are 10 hours and 13 hours, respectively.

FT is the total time from the moment an aeroplane first moves for the purpose of taking off until the moment it finally comes to rest at the end of the flight.

FDP starts when a flight crew member is required to report for duty and finishes at engine(s) off at the end of the last flight on which he/she is a flight crew member.

It could not be immediately ascertained whether IndiGo has received similar exemptions for its long-haul services. The escalating conflict involving the US, Israel and Iran that started on February 28 and the resultant airspace curbs in the Middle East region have significantly impacted flight operations.

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Many airlines have reduced their services. Air India's flights are taking the route through Oman, the southern part of Saudi Arabia and Egypt for European and North American destinations. For some of the ultra-long-haul services, there are technical stops at Rome.

(This story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)

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