NEW DELHI: India’s aviation regulator Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) on Monday introduced changes to the flight duty time limitations (FDTL) including more rest for pilots, redefining night duty and mandating airlines to file regular fatigue reports.

“The revised FDTL regulations are effective forthwith and airline operators are required to comply with the revised regulations by June 1, a DGCA statement said.

Civil aviation minister Jyotiraditya Scindia said the changes, in line with international best practices, will ensure India has the necessary arsenal as the country prepares to clinch the largest domestic aviation market title in the future.

“A bunch of much-awaited reforms in Flight Duty Time Limitations for our pilots has come through. After in-depth analysis of pilot rosters, fatigue-related reports and direct feedback from pilots, we have introduced revised “FDTL Regulations” that include, increased rest periods, redefining night duty, and regular fatigue reports to be shared by airlines,” Scindia said in a post on X, formerly Twitter.

“In addition, we will soon transition towards a new regime of fatigue management i.e. Fatigue Risk Management System (FRMS), which will be a data-driven approach to enhance monitoring of flight crew fatigue.”.

The DGCA statement said FRMS was a data-driven approach to enhance monitoring and reporting of flight crew fatigue and would require the collaboration of various aviation stakeholders to implement stringent monitoring, record keeping and reporting.

The revised norms extend the minimum weekly rest period from 36 hours to 48 hours from 36 hours and revise the definition of night duty from 0000-0500 to 0000-0600. “This enhancement of one hour during early morning will ensure adequate rest and also align the night duty period which encompasses Window of Circadian Low (WOCL) from 0200-0600 hours i.e. the time during which the circadian body clock cycle is at its lowest in terms of alertness,” the statement said.

The new regulations have capped the maximum flight time and maximum flight duty period for flight operations at night to 8 hours flight time and 10 hours flight duty period respectively. The maximum number of landings has been reduced to two landings, down from the maximum permissible 6 landings under previous regulations during night operations.

DGCA also said all airlines have to submit quarterly fatigue reports after analysis including the action taken on such reports. “It has been stipulated that the fatigue reports shall follow a non-punitive and confidentiality policy,” the regulator said.

Pilots said the revised set of norms was a good step.

DGCA said the revised regulation was a stepping stone towards FRMS implementation in India.

“As of now, airlines ignore the fatigue reports. Once FRSM is taken seriously by airline operators, a lot of changes will come,” a pilot said.