The policy called 'Flight Duty Time Limitations' (FDTL) was implemented without any planning. Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee raised her voice with this claim regarding IndiGo's flight disruptions on Monday. She targeted the Centre from Kolkata airport before attending a meeting in Cooch Behar that day.
What did Mamata say while criticising the Centre over IndiGo's flight service disruptions?
Mamata Banerjee said that day, "Pilots or crew need rest, I also believe this. But planning is required to implement any new policy. The government should have emphasised planning before implementing this policy. Time is very precious to people. Many passengers have been harassed for the past few days. I request that the government plan first. Arrange alternatives if necessary and ensure that those facilities reach the people."
Raising her voice further against the Centre, she said, "They only think about elections. They don't think about people's convenience and inconvenience." Mamata also demanded that day that the Centre should compensate passengers for their suffering. The Chief Minister also reminded that passengers could approach the court.
Overall, Mamata has put the Centre in the dock for the 'IndiGo crisis'. Notably, IndiGo's flight services have been disrupted for the past seven days. Multiple flights of the country's largest airline in terms of service and passenger numbers were cancelled, causing millions of passengers to face problems. The country's flight regulatory body Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA)'s regulation called 'Flight Duty Time Limitations' was blamed for the service disruption. This regulation was implemented in two phases. The second phase was implemented in November.
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It specified rest time limits for pilots and flight crew. Several other rules were also mentioned there. IndiGo's services came to a halt while implementing this. However, to normalise flight services, DGCA immediately withdrew one clause of the Flight Duty Time Limitations (FDTL). It stated that even if pilots take leave, giving them 48 hours of rest per week was mandatory. But this rule was withdrawn only after IndiGo's problems. Pilots' leave time would be included within those 48 hours. Night-related regulations for pilots were somewhat relaxed.
