Tata Group-owned Air India faces a penalty of Rs 80 lakh imposed by the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA)  for violation of regulations pertaining to Flight Duty Time Limitations (FDTL) and fatigue management system (FMS) of flight crew. In a statement, DGCA said to ensure a high level of safety in aviation, it conducted a spot audit of Air India Limited in the month of January this year for verifying the regulatory compliance by the operator in respect of FDTL and FMS regulations. During the audit, it was found that Air India operated flight(s) in violation of Sub Rule (2) of Rule 28 A of the Aircraft Rules, 1937.

“The analysis of reports and evidence revealed that M/s Air India Limited operated flight(s) with both flight crew aged above 60 years flying together in few instances, which is a violation of Sub Rule (2) of Rule 28 A of the Aircraft Rules, 1937. . The operator was also found deficient in providing adequate weekly rest, adequate rest before & after ultra-long range (ULR) flights and adequate rest on layover to flight crew, which violates the extant provisions of the Civil Aviation Requirements pertaining to FDTL. Moreover, the instances of exceeding duty periods, wrongly marked training records, overlapping duties, etc. were also observed during the audit,” DGCA said in its order.

DGCA said a show cause notice was issued to Air India March 1, 2024, for submitting its response. Aviation regulator observed that its response was not found satisfactory.

In January, DGCA revised the Flight Duty Time Limitations (FDTL) norms for flight crew, entailing increased weekly rest periods to 48 hours, extension of night hours, and limiting the number of night landings to only two as against six earlier.

DGCA said the revised FDTL regulations have been formulated after extensive data analysis and feedback from various stakeholders, including airline operators, pilot associations and individuals.

Highlights of the new norms:

1. The revised regulations mandate increased weekly rest periods from 36 hours to 48 hours for flight crew, thus ensuring sufficient time for recovery from cumulative fatigue, it said.

3. This enhancement of one hour during the early morning will ensure adequate rest and also align the night duty period, which encompasses Window of Circadian Low (WOCL) from 0200-0600 hours, the time during which the circadian body clock cycle is at its lowest in terms of alertness, the statement said.

4. The revised regulations have taken into consideration different types of operations across time zones.

5. DGCA said that the maximum flight time and maximum flight duty period for flight operations encroaching night have been restricted to eight hours’ flight time and 10 hours flight duty period, respectively.

6. The number of landings has been limited to only two as against the maximum permissible six under previous regulations during night operations, thus enhancing flight safety, it added.

The aviation regulator had said the airlines are required to comply with the revised norms latest by June 1.