Air India cabin crew operating one-stop flights to the US and Canada will get better rest with the introduction of layovers in Vienna in the coming days.
This has been made possible by the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) speeding up the issuance of crew member certificates, which pilots and flight attendants must carry on flights to Europe.
The introduction of layovers will also address fatigue-related concerns raised by pilots and crew.
Air India was forced to reroute its US and Canada flights via Europe after the closure of Pakistan’s airspace last month.
While the New York flights are now operating non-stop, flights to Chicago, Toronto, and Washington are taking a refuelling halt in Vienna. Some flights to San Francisco and Vancouver take a halt in Kolkata and fly eastbound over the Pacific.
As per DGCA’s prevailing duty norms, crew operating long-haul non-stop flights to the US are permitted to undertake one landing within a flight duty period of 20–22 hours.
Thus, under normal circumstances, a crew change would be required in Europe. However, the non-availability of adequate CMCs, among other issues, resulted in crew members having to carry out two landings — one in Vienna and another at the final destination.
The DGCA also granted a temporary dispensation from duty norms to enable Air India to continue its operations.
“For pilots, we had sought a duty time exemption only till May 14, and now those operating one-stop flights to the US and Canada are getting a layover in Vienna since last week. While a large majority of pilots now have the CMCs, in the case of cabin crew, it is still a work in progress,” an Air India official said.
Sources pointed out that the issuance of CMCs was very slow, with a wait time of over a month, but the process has now been expedited.
“We have worked in tandem with the DGCA to address the issue,” the official added.
Pilots and crew operating one-stop flights to the US had raised concerns about fatigue due to extended work hours and an additional take-off and landing in Europe.
“Alertness levels need to be at their highest during the take-off and landing phases. Even inadvertent slide deployments can occur due to fatigue. While the airline is operating all the flights, it is unable to maintain the regular schedule. Flights are getting delayed, and the halt in Europe has added an extra 90–120 minutes to duty time,” a crew member pointed out.
Published on May 20, 2025
Air India cabin crew operating one-stop flights to the US and Canada will get better rest with the introduction of layovers in Vienna in the coming days.
This has been made possible by the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) speeding up the issuance of crew member certificates, which pilots and flight attendants must carry on flights to Europe.
The introduction of layovers will also address fatigue-related concerns raised by pilots and crew.
Air India was forced to reroute its US and Canada flights via Europe after the closure of Pakistan’s airspace last month.
While the New York flights are now operating non-stop, flights to Chicago, Toronto, and Washington are taking a refuelling halt in Vienna. Some flights to San Francisco and Vancouver take a halt in Kolkata and fly eastbound over the Pacific.
As per DGCA’s prevailing duty norms, crew operating long-haul non-stop flights to the US are permitted to undertake one landing within a flight duty period of 20–22 hours.
Thus, under normal circumstances, a crew change would be required in Europe. However, the non-availability of adequate CMCs, among other issues, resulted in crew members having to carry out two landings — one in Vienna and another at the final destination.
The DGCA also granted a temporary dispensation from duty norms to enable Air India to continue its operations.
“For pilots, we had sought a duty time exemption only till May 14, and now those operating one-stop flights to the US and Canada are getting a layover in Vienna since last week. While a large majority of pilots now have the CMCs, in the case of cabin crew, it is still a work in progress,” an Air India official said.
Sources pointed out that the issuance of CMCs was very slow, with a wait time of over a month, but the process has now been expedited.
“We have worked in tandem with the DGCA to address the issue,” the official added.
Pilots and crew operating one-stop flights to the US had raised concerns about fatigue due to extended work hours and an additional take-off and landing in Europe.
“Alertness levels need to be at their highest during the take-off and landing phases. Even inadvertent slide deployments can occur due to fatigue. While the airline is operating all the flights, it is unable to maintain the regular schedule. Flights are getting delayed, and the halt in Europe has added an extra 90–120 minutes to duty time,” a crew member pointed out.
Published on May 20, 2025
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The point of using Lorem Ipsum is that it has a more-or-less normal distribution of letters, as opposed to using ‘Content here, content here’, making
The point of using Lorem Ipsum is that it has a more-or-less normal distribution of letters, as opposed to using ‘Content here, content here’, making it look like readable English. Many desktop publishing packages and web page editors now use Lorem Ipsum as their default model text, and a search for ‘lorem ipsum’ will uncover many web sites still in their infancy.
It is a long established fact that a reader will be distracted by the readable content of a page when looking at its layout. The point of using Lorem Ipsum is that it has a more-or-less normal distribution
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