From 18 hours to 12, and then to nine - in the past month, the rest period between two flights for Air India Express pilots has been cut by half. In an earlier controversial decision, the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) had cut the rest hours from 18 to 12. The airline has illegally crunched it further.

This is one of the several violations of cockpit crew rest rules by AI Express, where six commanders have resigned in the last ten days.

"The pilots who complained against the gross rest rule violations in writing were taken off flying duties and were called to the office and intimidated by the chief of operations and the consultant for crew scheduling," said an airline source. "The weekly flying programme of all airlines needs to be signed and authorised by the chief pilot of the airline or any other management pilot on his behalf. But the chief pilot of AI Express has refused to sign the weekly flying programme due to these illegalities," the source added.

The Kolkata-Dhaka sector is a typical example of these violations. Pilots taking off from Kolkata would reach their Dhaka hotel at 7 pm local time, and rest for nine hours and fifteen minutes before leaving the following day at 4.20 am to operate the Dhaka-Kolkata-Bangkok-Kolkata flight. The cockpit crew, which reaches the Kolkata hotel by 2.30 pm (local time) then leaves the next morning at 5.10 am for the Kolkata-Singapore-Kolkata flight. This is a rest period of 14 hours and 40 minutes.

"This schedule violates the 1992 rules as it clearly specifies that for international carriers, the rest between flight duties should be a minimum of 18 hours," said the source.

An AI spokesperson confirmed that six commanders had quit in the last ten days, but said it had nothing to do with rest rules. "They will be serving a six-month notice period. We repudiate such insinuations in the strongest terms. AI and AI Express strictly adhere to DGCA norms and are sticklers as far as safety norms are concerned," the spokesperson said.

Airline sources said it all started when DGCA chief Kanu Gohain on August 28 issued a dispensation on the 1992 Flight Duty Time Limitation (FDTL) and increased the work hours for pilots of international airlines like Air India and Jet Airways.

The DGCA letter issued to Air India - a copy of which is with The Times of India - increases the weekly flying time-limit from 30 hours to 40 hours. It also allows airlines to take away weekly off-days and compensate staff 15 days later with two days off, makes way for fewer pilots for long-haul flights, and reduces the rest period between two flights from 18 hours to 12 hours, among other things.

"When the DGCA issues a dispensation, the time period for which it is applicable should be mentioned. It should also include measures to mitigate the effects caused by the change in rest rules. Both of these very significant norms are not followed in the DGCA letter," the source pointed out. The increased work hours come at a time when countries like the US, the UK and Australia are looking at increasing the rest period for their pilots in view of the increasing number of fatigue-related crashes.

"The DGCA dispensations, made to suit the commercial interests of airlines, would have raised a hue and cry in other countries," says Capt M Ranganathan, an air safety expert. "Gohain is undoing safety by issuing so many waivers. He does not understand that cumulative fatigue can have a very serious effect on human response. He should read Rosekind's report published by Nasa on sleep deprivation. If the court has been convinced by high-profile lawyers that the 1992 FDTL rules are good enough, Gohain is making a mockery of the court by issuing this waiver. I wonder if the judges and lawyers were aware of this dispensation," says Capt Ranganathan.

Gohain was not available for comment despite several attempts made by this paper to reach him. "Increasing Flight Duty Time limitations is not merely an exercise in changing numbers on paper. What needs to be understood is that by doing so, the airlines and the DGCA are playing with the lives of lakhs of people who fly everyday," said an airline pilot.

In 2007, India introduced rest rules that were backed by science and were followed by airlines of other countries, only to withdraw them a year later because airlines had to employ about 20% more pilots to implement these new rules. Pilots of Indian and Jet Airways moved the Bombay high court, demanding re-introduction of the 2007 rest rules, but lost the case to the DGCA and airlines. Following this, the 1992 rest rules, which give pilots less rest time, were re-implemented.

After this, the DGCA further tightened the noose by allowing dispensations to the 1992 rules. "In effect, what the DGCA and airlines want to do is to take away the increased rest mandated in the 2007 rules while retaining all the increased duty times in the form of dispensations," said a source.