Jet and Air India Not Yet Following Rules for Flight Duty Timing

Tuesday, 17th April 2012 at 03:40am

On March 25, a new set of rules for India's pilots and cabin crew workers was passed but after seeking certain clarifications, Jet Airways and Air India were allowed to not yet follow the rules made for long haul flights.

The new rules requires airline having long haul flights to get more personnel especially for the cockpit crew so as to avail more flight duty hours especially during times of emergencies like if during a presence of turbulent weather or when industrial strikes happen to airports abroad.

The director general of the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA), Bharat Bhushan, stated, "Since the erstwhile rules did not have these provisions, Jet Airways and Air India have sought clarification from the civil aviation ministry. Therefore, we have permitted them to operate such flights as per the rules till the time we get directives from the ministry."

Bhushan added that many airlines are asking for a case-to-case basis allowance, to have extended flight duties, something which will no longer be possible once the new rules take effect.

A spokesperson for Jet Airways denied seeking any clarification from the DGCA saying, "Like every airline operator, Jet Airways was asked and has thus commented on the new rules. We will follow the rules in line with best international practices."

Experts for air safety believes that since it took the DGCA more than two years for the new rules to come about, there was enough time for them to clear doubts if there are any.

An air safety expert, Captain Mohan Ranganathan, shared, "Flight duty hours restrictions are laid down so that crew fatigue does not endanger passenger safety. Since crew operating long haul flights are most vulnerable to fatigue, the ministry should not waste any time enforcing the new rule on such flights."

Captain Ranganathan added that current rules are outdated since they were formulates back in in 1992, back when long distance international flights were not yet offered by Indian carriers.

The airline sought help from the court after 10% of its 1500 pilots filed sick leave, resulting to a the cancellation of several international flights.

The High Court emphasized that the pilots are not allow to go on sick leaves just to organize or join demonstrations or strikes.

Following the court decisions, it is reported that the pilots, through the Indian Pilots Guild, sought legal advice to determine whether they should continue their protest or just return to their work.

The basis of the pilots' protest was the decision of Air India to provide training to pilots from the former Indian Airlines for the new Boeing aircrafts. The Air India pilots argue that since the aircrafts were purchased long before the merger, they are the ones who should be given priority when it comes to the training. This dispute is the newest in the string of issues the airline company is currently facing.

Other causes for the decreasing revenue of airline, which may affect its future, are the increasing costs of fuel and the increased competition. To make the situation worse, the debt levels were also determined to be rising.

Such challenges experienced by the company cause the government to come and rescue them.

On the previous month, authorities accepted a debt restructuring plan, and promised that they will provide the airline with 300 billion rupees, equivalent to $5.9 billion, by the year 2020.

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