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India travel chaos: Are pilots overworked?
Thousands of flights operated by India’s largest airline, IndiGo, have been cancelled in the past week, disrupting air travel during peak travel season in the world’s most populous nation.
The chaos started last week due to a pilot shortage after the private carrier failed to adapt to a new government guideline on the rest and duty hours of pilots.
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The crisis has brought into the spotlight the working conditions of pilots in India and how airlines pushed policies that negatively affected their pay scale.
What do we know about flight disruptions?
IndiGo, which operates 2,200 flights daily, has been forced to cancel about 3,400 flights since December 2 in the worst crisis in the carrier’s 20-year operation.
There were flight disruptions in several big cities, including New Delhi, Mumbai, Ahmedabad and Hyderabad, leaving thousands of passengers stranded at airports across the country.
The airline says its operations will be back to normal by December 15.
Given that IndiGo controls 65 percent market share, the impact on travel and ticket prices was severe, forcing the government to intervene and even issue a cap on domestic fares.
Together, Air India and IndiGo control 92 percent of the market share. IndiGo is the only airline that connects many smaller cities and towns in India, such as Shillong, Kolhapur, Prayagraj, Agra and Deogarh, giving it a monopoly on those sectors.
On Friday, about 1,600 flights were cancelled. A day later, more than 700 flights were cancelled, followed by some 650 flights on Sunday. More than 400 flights have been cancelled so far on Monday.
The disruptions have caused a huge outcry.
What are the new guidelines on pilot rest and duty hours?
Early in 2024, the Indian government introduced new Flight Duty Time Limitations (FDTL) regulations to improve pilots’ working hours, rest periods, and fatigue management across Indian airlines. These rules reduced the maximum daily duty hours and tightened rest requirements, aligning more closely with international fatigue‑risk norms.
The new rules, which came into effect on November 1, asked airlines to:
- Increase pilots’ mandatory weekly rest period from 36 to 48 hours. A pilot’s personal leave request, however, cannot be included under the mandatory rest period.
- Cap pilots’ flying hours that continue into the night to 10 hours.
- Cap the weekly number of landings a pilot can make between midnight and early morning to two.
- Submit pilots’ fatigue reports every quarter to India’s aviation regulator – the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA).
Aviation experts and pilot unions have blamed IndiGo for poor preparation and negligence in adapting to the new rules. Former AirAsia CFO Vijay Gopalan attributed the crisis to IndiGo’s “very, very lackadaisical, nonchalant attitude” towards adapting to the latest regulations.
“Despite the two-year preparatory window before full FDTL implementation, the airline inexplicably adopted a hiring freeze, entered non-poaching arrangements, maintained a pilot pay freeze through cartel-like behaviour, and demonstrated other short-sighted planning practices,” the Federation of Indian Pilots told the Press Trust of India news agency on December 4.
Why did India introduce Flight Duty Time Limitations?
The Indian civil aviation authorities introduced the FDTL regulations to address pilot fatigue and safety concerns, bringing them closer to international standards.
These international standards are set by bodies such as the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), a United Nations agency which sets global aviation standards and coordinates international air transport, and the European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA).
The new regulations were introduced after years of lobbying by pilot unions and associations in India, including the Airline Pilots’ Association of India (ALPA), for updated fatigue rules. They raised concerns about operational safety risks and health impacts from long, irregular hours.
What is it like to be a pilot in India?
Pawan*, a commercial pilot with an Indian airline, told Al Jazeera on condition of anonymity, “You need to have completed about 200 hours of flight time through a training institution before working with an airline.”
As a child, Pawan lived in a housing society with pilots, engineers and airport managers because his father was also a pilot. These factors inspired him to become a pilot.
He added that, unlike many industries with annual inflation‑linked raises, pilot salaries rarely increase, and benefits are mostly standard – staff flight tickets for family, limited medical insurance and compensation if a licence is lost due to medical reasons or death.
“From a lot of people that I’ve interacted with in the industry who’ve been here now 15 years close to the company, they are saying things like, ‘I feel like I’m earning the same thing I earned 10 years back, or maybe even less,’” Pawan, who has been a pilot in India for almost a decade, said.
Different websites have different estimates for the average salary earned by pilots in India.
The New Delhi-based FMS Aviation Academy estimates that the annual salary of new Commercial Pilot Licence (CPL) holders starts from 400,000 rupees ($4,400), as of 2025.
According to the academy, the annual salary of senior captains for commercial airlines can exceed 10 million rupees ($120,000). Another New Delhi-based aviation school, We One Aviation, cites the same figure for the salary of senior captains.
The entry-level job is a junior first officer or cadet. After sufficient flying hours, one is promoted to become a senior. After more than 3,000 hours of flying, pilots take the Airline Transport Pilot Licence (ATPL) theoretical test to become a captain, a position that allows them to take full responsibility for the flight.
How does India compare with the rest of the world?
International bodies like the ICAO do not prescribe specific limits to the number of hours or number of flights pilots can safely operate to avoid fatigue. Different countries have different regulations.
For example, the Australian Civil Aviation Safety Authority (CASA) says pilots should get a minimum 48-hour break in any consecutive seven‑day period. Night duty is capped at nine to 10 hours. It does not state an explicit landing cap. In Australia, pilots can earn approximately 200,000 Australian dollars ($134,000) a year, and captains can earn up to 400,000 Australian dollars ($268,000) a year, according to the Melbourne-based Holmes Aviation Institute.
According to Canadian Aviation Regulations, pilots must get at least 36 consecutive hours off during any seven‑day period when they are operating from their normal home base. The night duty is limited to eight to 10 hours. There is no formal cap on night landings. In Canada, pilots can make between 38,000 Canadian dollars ($27,740) and 250,000 Canadian dollars ($182,500) a year, according to the Ontario-based institute, Flight Trainers.
The EASA sets the weekly rest to a minimum of 36 hours, which can be reduced to 24 hours with compensation. The average annual salaries for airline pilots across 17 European countries range from 32,299 euros ($35,000) in Romania to 113,672 euros ($122,776) in Switzerland as of 2025, according to the ERI Economic Research Institute.
In the United States, flight crew members get 30 consecutive hours free from all duty during a consecutive seven-day period of work. It caps the night duty to nine to 10 hours. There is no formal cap on night landings. According to the US Bureau of Labor Statistics, the median pay for commercial pilots in 2024 was $198,100 per year.
EU slams critical US security strategy, notes ‘changed relationship’
European Council President Antonio Costa and the German government have lambasted a new US national security strategy that paints Europe as a troubled, declining power that may one day lose its usefulness as an ally to Washington.
The remarks on Monday from the European Union’s leading economy and one of its top officials delivered a stinging rebuke to the National Security Strategy released on Friday by the administration of US President Donald Trump.
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The 33-page document contains scathing criticism of the continent, claiming it is facing the “prospect of civilisational erasure” due to migration, scorning it for “censorship of free speech” and suppression of anti-immigration movements, and suggesting that the US may withdraw the security umbrella it has long held over it.
The stoush over the strategy, playing out as Washington ramps up pressure on Ukraine to agree to a plan to end the war with Russia, reflects what EU leader Costa said was a “changed” relationship between the US and Europe.
“We need to focus on building a Europe that must understand that the relationships between allies and the post-World War II alliances have changed,” Costa said at the Jacques Delors Institute, a think tank in Paris.
In response to the strategy document’s comments on free speech, Costa warned, “There will never be free speech if the freedom of information of citizens is sacrificed for the aims of the tech oligarchs in the United States.”
Costa strongly criticised allegations that free speech is being censored in Europe and said only European citizens can decide which parties should govern them.
“What we cannot accept is this threat of interference in Europe’s political life. The United States cannot replace European citizens in deciding which are the right parties and the wrong parties,” Costa said.
“The United States cannot replace Europe in its vision of freedom of speech,” he noted, adding, “Our history has taught us that there is no freedom of speech without freedom of information.”
‘Ideology, not strategy’
In Berlin, Sebastian Hille, a deputy spokesperson for the German government, said some of the criticisms in the document were “ideology rather than strategy”.
“Political freedoms, including the right to freedom of expression, are among the fundamental values of the EU,” he said.
He said Berlin also disagreed with the document’s failure to classify Russia, which in February 2022 launched a full-scale invasion of neighbouring Ukraine, as a threat.
“We stand by NATO’s joint analysis, according to which Russia is a danger and a threat to trans-Atlantic security,” he added.
Divisions over Russia
The US strategy document makes clear that Washington wants to improve its relationship with Moscow, saying that it has a “core interest” in ending the conflict with Ukraine to “reestablish strategic stability with Russia”, while hitting out at European officials’ “unrealistic expectations” for a solution to the war.
An initial US plan for ending the war, which would have allowed Russia to hold on to large territories in eastern Ukraine, sparked criticism from European leaders amid concerns that Washington is trying to force Kyiv to accept unfavourable terms.
The plan has since been altered, first with input from Ukraine alongside its European allies and then in meetings between Ukrainian and US officials. The full details of the proposal as it stands have not been disclosed.
By contrast, Moscow has welcomed Trump’s strategy document.
Costa said that given the strategy document’s position on Ukraine, “we can understand why Moscow shares [its] vision.”
“The objective in this strategy is not a fair and durable peace. It’s only [about] the end of hostilities, and the stability of relations with Russia,” he said.
Trump to host Netanyahu at White House on December 29: Israeli government
United States President Donald Trump will host Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the White House on December 29, according to an Israeli government spokesperson.
The announcement on Monday did not provide any further details of the planned meeting, which the pair had tentatively announced last week.
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It came a day after Netanyahu said he expected to discuss the second phase of the ceasefire in Gaza with Trump, as well as “opportunities for peace” in the region.
“The Prime Minister will meet with President Trump on Monday, December 29, they will discuss the future steps and phases and the international stabilisation force of the ceasefire plan,” government spokesperson Shosh Bedrosian said in an online briefing to reporters.
On Sunday, Netanyahu said the focus of the meeting would be on ending Hamas governance in Gaza and ensuring it fulfilled its “commitment” to the ceasefire plan, which calls for demilitarisation of the enclave. He added that the second phase of the ceasefire will be “more difficult”.
Despite over 590 Israeli violations, a US-brokered ceasefire in Gaza has mostly held since October 10. Israeli forces have killed at least 360 Palestinians in the enclave since the ceasefire began, raising the overall death toll to over 70,000.
The first phase of the ceasefire related mainly to the exchange of Israeli captives and Palestinians held by Israel, as well as Israel’s withdrawal from parts of Gaza.
Phase two of the deal would concern post-war governance, a deeply thorny issue that remains largely unresolved, with only a vague US road map.
Still to be determined are questions of leadership, future Palestinian self-determination and the role of any international stabilisation force.
The meeting also comes as Trump has heaped pressure on Netanyahu to forge a new security agreement with the fledgling government of Ahmed al-Sharaa in Syria.
In a post on social media last week, Trump called on Israel to seek “strong and true dialogue” with Syria.
That followed repeated incursions and airstrikes by Israel that have largely derailed talks.
Magnitude 7.2 earthquake strikes off Japan, triggers tsunami alert
BREAKINGBREAKING,
A powerful earthquake has struck off Japan’s coast, triggering a tsunami alert.
An initial report by Japan’s Meteorological Agency put the magnitude of the quake on Monday at 7.2.
It said the earthquake struck off the coast of Aomori and Hokkaido, adding that a tsunami as high as three metres (10 feet) could hit Japan’s northeastern coast.
There were no immediate reports of casualties or damages.
Trump to sign ‘one-rule’ executive order on AI to bypass US state approvals
United States President Donald Trump has said he will sign an executive order creating “one rulebook” for artificial intelligence (AI) development.
The announcement on Monday via Trump’s Truth Social account represented the US president’s latest effort to remove AI barriers, a priority of his administration that has raised concerns related to oversight of the transformative technology.
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Trump said the so-called “one rule executive order” would override state approvals of AI, although the legality of such a presidential action remained unclear.
“There must be only One Rulebook if we are going to continue to lead in AI,” he said. “We are beating ALL COUNTRIES at this point in the race, but that won’t last long if we are going to have 50 States, many of them bad actors, involved in RULES and the APPROVAL PROCESS.”
“THERE CAN BE NO DOUBT ABOUT THIS! AI WILL BE DESTROYED IN ITS INFANCY!” Trump added, employing his typical use of all-capital letters.
The announcement comes as the White House has pushed for provisions creating a federal AI framework to be added to this year’s defence budget.
The initiative has divided members of Trump’s Republican Party, which has traditionally strongly supported the rights of states and a smaller federal government.
Opponents included Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene, formerly a staunch supporter of Trump, who has broken with him on several issues.
“States must retain the right to regulate and make laws on AI and anything else for the benefit of their state,” she wrote in November.
State lawmakers from across the political spectrum have also warned against federal actions that would override state policies.
“In recent years, legislatures across the country have passed AI-related measures to strengthen consumer transparency, guide responsible government procurement, protect patients, and support artists and creators,” they wrote in a letter to Congress in November.
“These laws represent careful, good-faith work to safeguard constituents from clear and immediate AI-related harms. A federal preemption measure on state AI laws risks sweeping these protections aside and leaving communities exposed,” they said.
Trump has maintained close ties with AI and tech leaders since taking office in January.
He has already signed an executive order calling for the removal of “barriers” to AI innovation. He has also published a so-called AI action plan and an AI “Genesis Mission”.