New Delhi: On Friday, the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) informed the Delhi High Court that no airline company has been granted exemption when it comes to rest hours of pilots.
“The pilots are entitled to non-negotiable weekly rest, and that remains. No relaxation has been given to any airlines except IndiGo, which has been given some relation for night operations, albeit only till February 10,” advocate Akshita Gosain, who represented the airline regulator, told the court Friday.
This submission was made before a bench of Chief Justice D. K. Upadhyay and Justice Tejas Karia, when it asked the DGCA if airlines were given indefinite relaxation in the implementation of new norms on weekly rest and leaves for pilots.
The court also issued notices on the Public Interest Litigation (PIL) to the Centre, DGCA and IndiGo, seeking their response to the plea which claimed to raise issues of grave public importance like aviation, safety, regulatory failure, monopolistic dominance, passenger rights, consumer protection and constitutional governance in India’s civil aviation sector.
Essentially, the plea challenges the DGCA’s decision to suspend the new Flight Duty Time Limitation (FTDL) rules, after massive disruptions in airline services in December 2025.
On Friday, the court asked the DGCA to explain the reason behind its decision to withdraw these new flight duty norms which said that “no leave shall be substituted by weekly rest”.
The new rules had come into effect on 1 November, but after hundreds of flights were cancelled or delayed, on 5 December 2025 the DGCA allowed the exemption so that IndiGo, the most affected airline, could have more pilots on duty to reduce the disruptions and normalise operations. At the time, IndiGo said it was not prepared to implement the new flight duty norms for pilots.
These now-suspended FDTL norms require airlines to give pilots and crew a mandatory period of rest after shifts.
The matter will be next heard in four weeks.
What the plea said
The plea filed by Sabari Roy Lenka, also seeks direction for the DGCA to recall or quash an order passed by it on 5 December 2025, and also a direction to the DGCA to restrain all scheduled airlines operating in India, from describing themselves as ‘low-cost’ airlines.
The plea says airlines in India have started representing themselves as ‘low cost airlines’ since 2003, despite the absence of any such classification under Indian aviation law. This was misleading the public.
Filed in December 2025, the plea challenged the withdrawal of the 5th December order issued by the DGCA where mandatory fatigue-management protections under the Civil Aviation Requirements, 2024, were diluted exclusively for IndiGo Airlines, in direct violation of Rule 133A of the Aircraft Rules, 1937, which empowers the DGCA to issue special directions, Civil Aviation Requirements (CAR), and order for the operation, use, maintenance, and navigation of aircrafts.
Such an action endangered aviation safety, violated Articles 14 and 21 of the Constitution, which relate to the right to equality and life, and exposed India to increased national and international liability.
(Edited by Viny Mishra)
Also read: IndiGo blamed most of its flight cancellations on FDTL changes. What are these safety rules?