India’s New Fatigue System Has Pilots On Alert: Here’s Why

When a string of pilot deaths made headlines two years ago, the stories jolted public attention to a silent risk in aviation — fatigue. The tragedies sparked urgent conversations about whether India’s skies were safe enough for those flying them.

Now, two years on, the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) has introduced a Fatigue Risk Management System (FRMS). This data-driven system will use a software and also inputs from pilots to decide their fatigue levels.

This is different from the existing Flight Duty Time Limitations (FDTL) rules that take into account the actual hours the pilot is flying, the timings of the flight and the hours of night time flying they are undertaking.

Last week, India’s pilot union and the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) clashed publicly over just how fatigue should be managed. At the heart of the storm is the new FRMS proposed by the regulator, a model that shifts responsibility to airlines to track and address crew tiredness through data and self-reporting.

For pilots, the proposal felt like a betrayal — coming barely months after they had won a rare legal victory in court mandating stricter duty and rest rules.

Why Are Pilots Pushing Back?

“In the fatigue risk management system, what mechanisms do Air India and IndiGo have for managing this fatigue? They have no system,” Sam Thomas, president of Air Line Pilots' Association (ALPA), told The Core.

Pilots' association argue that FRMS gives airlines too much freedom, undermining court-ordered limits on flight duty hours and weekly rest.

The DGCA, on the other hand, the system is both modern and collaborative, pointing out that countries like New Zealand, Singapore, several in Europe and the UK, as well as carriers in South America, already have years of experience running FRMS.

“Methods to track fatigue have to be decided by the airlines. It’s a software mixed with physical monitoring, jointly reviewed by a team including the airline and pilots. The FRMS is only a guiding circular,” Faiz Ahmed Kidwai, director general of DGCA told The Core.

FRMS relies heavily on pilots honestly reporting whether they feel rested. Over time, this self-reporting is cross-checked against performance data and scientific models.

But as Thomas points out, trust is central. “The airline has to ask the pilot, did they rest well, and the airline has to take their word 100% for that. But one cannot just say, ‘Now we have FRMS, now we will do what we want.’”

Pilots' association argue that India has skipped a step. Mature FRMS systems abroad were built over years of collaboration, with robust protections for fatigue reporting. In India, they fear FRMS could become a fig leaf to stretch duty rosters further

But as airlines expand aggressively amid a shortage of trained crew, critics warn that trust—not technology—may be the missing piece in India’s cockpit.

How The News System Works

Globally, FRMS is not new. The International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) encourages it as a data-based alternative to rigid duty hours. In theory, FRMS lets airlines plan pilot schedules smarter. Instead of just following fixed duty-hour rules, they can use software and scientific models to predict when pilots might be tired, and also listen to pilots’ own feedback. This way, schedules can be made safer for the crew while still keeping flights running on time.

The question now is how such a framework would translate into the Indian context, where pilot fatigue is already a sensitive and contested issue.

The regulator argues that FRMS does not replace FDTL; rather, it gives airlines a choice.

“It’s up to the airline. We already have a CAR on FDTL. If you want FDTL, follow it. If you want FRMS, put the process in place,” Kidwai added.

The FRMS draft is still under discussion, and its implementation timeline will depend on individual airlines.

“Ultimately, the airlines will present their systems to us, and these will keep developing over time. It’s not a one-time thing—it is a dynamic system,” Kidwai added.

For many pilots, the real worry is not the FRMS but the culture of India’s airlines. Reporting fatigue, they say, is often frowned upon—and in some cases, punished.

“Air India and IndiGo have terminated people for reporting fatigue. So that is what we are objecting to,” Thomas said.

This history colours how pilots view FRMS. If airlines already discourage fatigue reports, why should pilots trust them to design fatigue-monitoring systems?

The Trust Deficit

Aviation expert Manish Sinha sees the conflict as a breakdown of confidence. “Neither the regulator nor the association should have reached this level where they have lost confidence in each other. The very fact that you start coming out with new regulations is itself an admission that your earlier regulations were not up to the mark. Instead of fixing trust, we’re layering another system on top.”

For Sinha, the deeper issue is India’s unbalanced aviation growth. Airlines have ordered hundreds of aircraft, but the supply of trained pilots has not kept pace.

“The demand and supply imbalance has led to this,” he explained. “The professionals get squeezed—by airline pressure, by promotion incentives, and by manpower shortage.”

Court vs. Cockpit

The current debate traces back to February 2025, when the Delhi High Court intervened in a long-running battle over pilot fatigue. The court directed the DGCA to increase weekly rest periods from 36 to 48 hours starting July 1 and to limit night flying from November 1.

The ruling was a breakthrough for pilot bodies, who had argued for years that India’s Flight Duty Time Limitations (FDTL) lagged behind international standards.

Flight Duty Time Limitations (FDTL) are the DGCA’s prescriptive rules that cap the duration of flights, the amount of rest required, and the number of night duties to which pilots can be rostered. While they set fixed limits—such as defining night duty between midnight and 5 a.m. and mandating weekly rest—critics say India’s norms lag behind international practice.

Regulators in Europe, the US, New Zealand, and Singapore increasingly use FRMS, a flexible approach that relies on data, biomathematical models, and pilot reports to manage fatigue more effectively than rigid duty-hour rules.

The sequence began when the DGCA issued a Civil Aviation Requirement (CAR) on FDTL, aimed at addressing growing concerns over pilot fatigue. Airlines resisted the move, arguing that stricter duty limits would disrupt operations and worsen crew shortages.

The new CAR doesn’t replace FDTL but reshapes it, setting longer rest periods, limiting night duties, and allowing airlines to adopt data-driven FRMS schedules as a flexible, safety-approved alternative.

The dispute went to court, where the Delhi High Court upheld the regulation, stressing that it was designed for safety based on the regulator’s own reasoning.

Despite the ruling, the DGCA opted for a phased approach, implementing part of the new rules in July and deferring the rest until November, a compromise that reflected both industry pressure and operational realities.

Was the rule implemented? “It is on paper, but we have received several reports saying it is not implemented,” Thomas said.

But instead of a straightforward rollout, pilots' union say the regulator began hedging. The partial implementation, Thomas argues, created space for airlines to push back.

“Obviously, the airlines went back to the DGCA and said, what have you done? Then they came out with a new plan. The CAR will come when it comes, but in between they introduced FRMS. This FRMS gives the airline permission to monitor pilot fatigue independently and do whatever it wants with FDTL,” Thomas said.

The Regulatory Blind Spot

Sinha believes the DGCA could have acted earlier to prevent this crisis. “When we were not practising internationally recognised rostering standards, the regulator could have issued advisories. We do it when there is a price hike on tickets—we issue circulars. Why couldn’t we do the same for pilot safety?”

Instead, the issue has escalated into legal petitions, court orders, and now duelling regulations.

“It has become a blame game, and unfortunately, still no one is questioning the airline,” Sinha said. “At times when there are shades of grey, it has to be brushed aside. We need black-and-white rules.”

Too Many Planes, Too Few Pilots

Behind the fatigue fight is a hard arithmetic problem. India’s airlines are expanding faster than their pilot training capacity.

Today, the country produces about 1,100–1,200 commercial pilot licences a year, but only around 70% of those candidates get type-rated and job-ready. That leaves about 700–800 new pilots annually—against an industry demand of 2,000–3,000.

“The gap is huge,” Sinha said. “Most states have now realised they can convert defunct airstrips into training schools. In two years, this could bridge 40–50% of the shortfall. But until then, the squeeze will continue.”

That squeeze is exactly why airlines resist stricter duty-hour rules. If there aren’t enough pilots to cover schedules, the temptation to stretch rosters grows stronger.

What Comes Next

Both sides recognise that fatigue is not an issue that can be left unresolved. Kidwai signalled that pilot concerns will be considered. “We are in the process of finalising the FRMS system. We will see whatever the pilots have said and whatever their concerns are, we will take those into consideration,” Kidwai said.

Sinha, too, believes change is inevitable.

“I definitely feel there will be a change. Organisations introspect after a crisis. Airlines will be more cautious, DGCA will adopt a more human approach, and grievances will reduce. But it will take at least 18 months for things to stabilise.”

For now, though, the conflict simmers. Pilots remain wary, airlines stay silent, and the regulator insists it is modernising.

Author:   Zinal Dedhia

As India’s skies grow busier, a bitter standoff over fatigue rules has pitted pilots against the aviation regulator, exposing deeper cracks in safety oversight and trust.

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