HC refuses to stay Air India's order to increase flight duty time

The court, however, said the decision to increase FDTL and the FTL was not "final" as the issue is yet "to be worked out."

During the hearing, the AI management had taken the plea that the Airlines was facing a "grave financial crisis" and is able to pay the salaries of its employees only from the aids from the government.

The employees have to work as per the established industry practises to enable the respondent Airlines to pull through from its present position, it said.

Besides the cabin crew members, Indian Commercial Pilots' Association (ICPA), the union of erstwhile Indian Airlines, had also challenged the increase in FDTL and FTL.

The minister had directed the AI on September 11 to follow the DGCA guidelines on FDTL for pilots and cabin crew on the ground that a comprehensive analysis had warranted the change.

The analysis found that barring one of the six FDTL parameters regarding 'Rest Period', all others followed by the carrier for its pilots and crew members were on the lower side compared to what was laid down by DGCA, an official statement had said.

The other parameters include number of landings, maximum daily flight duty period, maximum daily flight time, weekly, monthly or annual limitation of flying hours, SOD (Staff on Duty) travel or positioning for duty.

According to the analysis, the pilots were found operating flights for 6.5 hours on domestic and seven hours on international sectors, against the DGCA guidelines of nine and 10 hours respectively.

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