5 months ago
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The Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) connected Tuesday (December 16, 2025) told the Delhi High Court that it volition guarantee IndiGo implements the caller aviator remainder and work norms expeditiously, contempt the regulator granting the hose an exemption until February 10.
Appearing earlier a Bench of Justice Amit Sharma successful transportation with a contempt plea moved by a aviator assemblage seeking proceedings against the regulator for granting relaxations to assorted airlines, the DGCA said the “exemptions are not granted happily”.
The Bench issued announcement to the DGCA and directed its apical officials to record their effect successful the matter. The tribunal listed the lawsuit for the adjacent proceeding connected April 17, 2026.
The plea by the Indian Pilots’ Guild (IPG) argued that the DGCA had granted exemptions to airlines specified arsenic Air India and IndiGo contempt the tribunal ordering the implementation of the Flight Duty Time Limitation (FDTL), which governs aviator remainder and work hours, successful April 2025.
On December 5, the DGCA issued an bid exempting IndiGo until February 10 from implementing 2 circumstantial provisions of the rules connected aviator remainder and work hours, including the explanation of nighttime work and the capping of landings to 2 per nighttime shift, formation clip to 8 hours per day, and work time, which includes formation clip and pre and post-flight duties, to not much than 10 hours for a nighttime shift. The exemptions were granted aft the hose witnessed a disruption successful its operations successful the archetypal 10 days of December, starring to implicit 5,000 formation cancellations, which it attributed to “planning gaps” successful ensuring aviator availability arsenic per the caller norms.
Earlier, up of the implementation of definite clauses connected November 1, the DGCA had permitted Air India and IndiGo constricted variations, allowing up to 3 landings successful a nighttime displacement alternatively of the prescribed headdress of 2 landings, successful definite circumstances.
Opposing the contempt plea, the DGCA’s counsel submitted that the tribunal had not frozen the contents of the Civil Aviation Requirement, which constitutes the regulator’s rules. While implementation timelines were binding, the regulator retained statutory powers nether the Aircraft Act and Rules to assistance temporary, case-specific exemptions, the counsel said adding that DGCA was moving to guarantee that IndiGo implements the norms earlier February 10.
The aviator assemblage contended that airlines were misusing the proviso for filing FDTL variations, which was intended for post-flight documentation alternatively than formation planning.
