Air India has approached the aviation regulator, Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA), seeking temporary relaxation in pilot duty norms to operate some long-haul flights after it was forced to take longer routes due to the closure of airspace over West Asia.
Flights to North America, including Toronto, are operating with increased flight times and fuel stops in Rome due to the unavailability of these airspaces.
To be sure, neither Indian airlines nor any aircraft registered in India have been allowed to use Pakistani airspace since April last year in the wake of the Pahalgam attack. This means that India’s long-haul and very long-haul flights are turning south to avoid restricted airspace.
Air India is currently the only airline to have made such a request, officials aware of the developments said. The airline sought to change its flight time restrictions (FDTL), citing operational constraints caused by airspace restrictions that led to extended blocking times on several routes.
Under current FDTL rules, the maximum flight time allowed for a two-pilot crew is 10 hours, while the maximum flight duty period (FDP) is set at 13 hours.
“Air India has requested permission to extend the flight duration to 11 hours and 30 minutes, which represents an increase of 1 hour and 30 minutes from the current limit,” an official said.
“The airline has also sought to increase the permissible FDP to 14 hours and 45 minutes, which is 1 hour and 45 minutes more than the current maximum,” the official added.
“In its submission to the regulator, Air India said the order was necessitated due to the closure of airspace over Iran and Iraq, forcing aircraft to take longer diversionary routes and thus increasing the total blocking time over the affected sectors,” another official said.
But he explained that “the application is currently under study by the Aviation Regulatory Authority.”
