India's domestic air traffic reached a new single-day high of 4,71,751 passengers on Sunday, more than 14% higher than the average pre-Covid count of 3,98,579. The civil aviation ministry reported that domestic aviation is experiencing unprecedented growth due to policies, economic development, and low-cost carrier expansion.
Amid rising tensions in the Middle East, airlines including Air India, Vistara, and IndiGo have altered flight paths to avoid Iranian airspace. The Civil Aviation Ministry has advised carriers to conduct their own risk assessments. The geopolitical situation may lead to longer routes, increased fuel costs, and potential airfare hikes for international flights.
Faced with pilot woes, Vistara has cut 25-30 flights daily or 10 per cent of its total capacity, a development that comes when the country's airline industry is already operating with reduced number of aircraft due to the bankruptcy of Go First and grounding of over 70 planes by IndiGo over engine issues.
The Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) is learnt to have raised questions over a procedure called Zero Flight Time Training (ZFTT). When a pilot has to undergo conversion training for operating a different type of aircraft, he has to undergo multiple stages of training.
Vistara, owned by the Tata group and Singapore Airlines , cancelled over 50 flights on Monday, with around 160 delayed, news channel NDTV reported. It is likely to cancel up to 70 flights on Tuesday, according to local media reports. The airline operates more than 300 flights a day, according to its website.
Among the changes introduced in the reformed FDTL was a 12-hour increase in pilots' weekly rest period, extension of night duty period, limiting the number of night landings to only two as against six earlier and mandating airlines to file quarterly fatigue reports.
Airlines had raised concern saying that the new rules force them to cancel up to 20% of flights which will inflate air fares during the peak summer travel season.
DGCA imposed Rs 80 lakh fine on Air India for breaching pilot rest rules, including crew above 60 flying together, inadequate rest, and marked training records. Violations led to show cause notice and unsatisfactory response.
Dube’s contrarian stance comes even though Federation of Indian airlines- a grouping of airlines including IndiGo and Air India, has said that they will have to cancel 20 % of flights as the new rules will require them to increase the number of pilots by 25% and hiring and training them will not be possible by 1 June.
Indian airlines will increase weekly domestic flights by nearly 6% during the summer schedule starting March 31, with 24,275 departures per week from 125 airports. New airports like Azamgarh, Aligarh, and Chitrakoot are proposed by scheduled carriers, according to DGCA.
The Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) has declined to extend the deadline for implementing new pilot duty hours beyond June 1st. Airlines are instructed to prepare for the implementation of revised norms and have their new pilot flight duty schedules approved by April 15th.
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