Pilots body alleges violation of rest norms by Air India

Alleging violation of weekly rest norms for the pilots by the airline, Indian Commercial Pilots Association (ICAP) today asked Air India CMD Rohit Nandan to take "stringent" action against those responsible for it.

"We request you to take stringent action against the persons responsible for manipulating the weekly rest, which amounts to violation of both civil aviation requirement and flight duty time limitations," ICPA, the apex body of erstwhile Indian Airlines pilots, said in a letter to Nandan.

The association has also advised its members to adhere to the Flight and Duty Time Limitations (FDTL) norms in the "interest of passenger safety." "In the interest of flight safety, we are advising our members to strictly follow the weekly rest of 36 hours in 168 hours," the letter said.

The association has already apprised the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) on the issue in its meeting with the aviation regulator last week, it said. "Thirty six hours period including two local nights must be mandatorily provided on weekly basis, that is 168 hours," ICPA stated in the letter, quoting the Nasim Zaidi Committee report on flight and duty time limitations and rest requirements for flight crew members.

"In spite of several communications in the past on different platforms, it has come to our notice that the management continues in threatening pilots to fly for a consecutive period of seven days and sometimes even eight days violating the regulatory norms," the letter alleged.