The Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) has informed the Delhi High Court that its decision allowing airlines to count a pilot’s earned leave of 48 hours as weekly rest while being listed does not give airlines the freedom to bypass or suspend the mandatory weekly rest requirement under the revised FDTL rules.
On December 5 of last year, the Directorate General of Civil Aviation withdrew a previous rule issued in November 2025 that prevented airlines from counting pilot leave as a weekly rest.
The Maximum Flight Time (FDTL) norms, implemented from November 1 last year, have significantly reduced pilot workload by increasing weekly rest from 36 to 48 continuous hours, expanding night duty from midnight-5am to midnight-6am, limiting consecutive night duties to two, capping night landings at two per week, and reducing monthly flying time from 125 hours to 100 hours in 28 days.
“The withdrawal of the Advisory (issued in November) on 5.12.2025, does not relax or prejudice the requirement to provide mandatory weekly rest under the FDTL CAR. Operators remain fully responsible for ensuring compliance with all applicable regulatory provisions,” the affidavit filed through lawyer Anjana Gosain in March said.
The affidavit was filed in response to a petition filed by former aircraft engineer Sabari Roy challenging the DGCA’s December 5 decision. On January 30, the Supreme Court ordered the regulator to submit an affidavit explaining the rationale behind its decision.
The decision was taken in view of multiple flight disruptions, including instances affecting IndiGo’s operations, to prevent further disruptions, stabilize schedules, minimize inconvenience to passengers and restore necessary roster flexibility, after receiving representations from several operators, the 5-page affidavit added.
“In the early days of December 2025, several flight disruptions were reported to the regulator, including instances in IndiGo’s operations. Representations were also received from several operators that the said advisory had resulted in reduced menu flexibility and operational challenges,” the affidavit said.
“Consequently, without deviating from the provisions of the FDTL CAR dated 26.03.2024, with regard to weekly rest, with a view to avoiding further disruptions, stabilizing airline operations, minimizing inconvenience to passengers and restoring necessary flexibility in the roster – while ensuring adherence to the target of managed weekly rest, the said advisory was withdrawn on 05.12.2025 and all operators were informed. It was received from Indigo and Air India Express,” it added.
Sure enough, though the matter came before a bench comprising Chief Justice D K Upadhyaya and Justice Tejas Karia on Thursday, no hearing was held due to time constraints and the case was postponed to July 29.
