DGCA assures HC that IndiGo will implement new pilot duty norms before February 10

The Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) on Tuesday (December 16, 2025) told the Delhi High Court that it will ensure IndiGo implements the new pilot rest and duty norms expeditiously, despite the regulator granting the airline an exemption until February 10.

Appearing before a Bench of Justice Amit Sharma in connection with a contempt plea moved by a pilot body seeking proceedings against the regulator for granting relaxations to various airlines, the DGCA said the “exemptions are not granted happily”.

The Bench issued notice to the DGCA and directed its top officials to file their response in the matter. The court listed the case for the next hearing on April 17, 2026.

The plea by the Indian Pilots’ Guild (IPG) argued that the DGCA had granted exemptions to airlines such as Air India and IndiGo despite the court ordering the implementation of the Flight Duty Time Limitation (FDTL), which governs pilot rest and duty hours, in April 2025.

On December 5, the DGCA issued an order exempting IndiGo until February 10 from implementing two specific provisions of the rules on pilot rest and duty hours, including the definition of night duty and the capping of landings to two per night shift, flight time to eight hours per day, and duty time, which includes flight time and pre and post-flight duties, to not more than 10 hours for a night shift. The exemptions were granted after the airline witnessed a disruption in its operations in the first 10 days of December, leading to over 5,000 flight cancellations, which it attributed to “planning gaps” in ensuring pilot availability as per the new norms.

Earlier, ahead of the implementation of certain clauses on November 1, the DGCA had permitted Air India and IndiGo limited variations, allowing up to three landings in a night shift instead of the prescribed cap of two landings, in certain circumstances.

Opposing the contempt plea, the DGCA’s counsel submitted that the court 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 under the Aircraft Act and Rules to grant temporary, case-specific exemptions, the counsel said adding that DGCA was working to ensure that IndiGo implements the norms before February 10.

The pilot body contended that airlines were misusing the provision for filing FDTL variations, which was intended for post-flight documentation rather than flight planning.