New Delhi, Dec. 7 -- Hard-fought regulations designed to protect both aviation safety and pilot wellbeing-won through 13 years of litigation catalysed by a 2010 crash that killed 158 people - have been undone to accommodate an airline whose mismanagement did not prepare despite ample notice, experts and pilots have said. The Directorate General of Civil Aviation on Friday granted IndiGo sweeping exemptions from crew fatigue standards that pilot unions fought for over a decade to establish, eight months after the Delhi high court disposed of the case believing India had finally achieved enforceable protections aligned with global benchmarks. The regulatory retreat, prompted by IndiGo's cancellation of hundreds of flights due to what the airline admitted were "misjudgment and planning gaps", has triggered warnings from aviation experts that India's willingness to compromise court-approved safety standards for one carrier's operational convenience exposes the entire system to preventable catastrophe. The litigation began in 2012, two years after an Air India Express Boeing 737 overshot the runway at Mangaluru, plunged into a gorge and exploded, killing 158 passengers and crew. Only eight survived. Investigators determined the commander had been "disorientated" after reportedly sleeping through much of the three-hour flight. The Indian Commercial Pilots Association, Indian Pilots Guild and Federation of Indian Pilots petitioned the Delhi High Court, arguing that Indian scheduling practices pushed crew to unsafe limits and demanding implementation of fatigue-mitigation norms aligned with global safety standards that had been adopted by aviation authorities worldwide. "It had taken a lot of effort and time to align the Indian FDTL to global or near global standards," a former bureaucrat said, noting that the regulatory framework represented years of painstaking work to elevate Indian safety protocols to international benchmarks. A former airline official warned of cascading consequences beyond immediate safety concerns. "This is not only a risk for pilots, but a risk for passengers as well as the airline. Any untoward incident could mean loss of lives, equipment and lead to increase in costs for the airline in terms of lease as well as insurance. If an airline cannot adjust its needs with a near two-year headstart, the operations and intentions are both questionable." The new regulations brought India into alignment with ICAO standards that had been adopted across major aviation markets. The rules increased mandatory weekly rest periods from 36 to 48 hours, limited night-time landings to two per week from six, and expanded the definition of night duty to match international norms-changes designed to prevent the kind of crew exhaustion that contributed to the Mangaluru disaster. Aviation safety consultant Mark D Martin issued withering criticism of the regulatory retreat. "Never has the DGCA retracted a critical safety and human factor risk mitigation regulation. Retracting the FDTL to accommodate one airline sends a spine-chilling message to the world that India's safety regulations are bendable, stretchable, biased and partial." Martin warned the decision would trigger international scrutiny. "India's safety incident rate and global safety ranking repeatedly has drawn criticism from the ICAO, EASA and the FAA, and with the DGCA's present soft, spineless stance on FDTL and crew fatigue, has already sent ripples, caution and triggers of SAFA (Safety Assessment of Foreign Aircraft) inspection with world regulators since FDTL rules apply to Indian VT aircraft flying on international routes. It won't be soon that they would begin receiving 'show cause' notices by the ICAO." Industry veteran Capt Shakti Lumba said the exemptions rewarded systematic failure. "The airline had two years to prepare for the new FDTL rules but it did not bother to do so, forcing the government to relax the norms as per their requirement, which is putting not only the pilots but also the passengers at risk." The Airline Pilots Association of India, which represents over 6,000 pilots, expressed "profound concern" over the "selective dispensations", warning that any dilution in FDTL norms "would expose pilots, passengers, and aircraft to unacceptable risks". Data submitted by IndiGo to DGCA shows the airline's requirement for pilots-in-command increased from 2,186 in October to 2,422 in November under the new norms. As of December, IndiGo employs 2,357 pilots-in-command-a deficit of 65. The airline maintained hiring and pay freezes while expanding winter capacity by 9.6% to an average of 2,145 flights daily, creating the very crew shortage it now cites to justify exemptions from rules designed to prevent pilot fatigue. The exemptions remain valid until February 10, 2026, with DGCA conducting 15-day reviews of IndiGo's progress on crew recruitment. A four-member committee has been constituted to investigate the crisis, with findings due within 15 days. As one industry expert put it: "Airlines trust million-dollar machines with pilots who are expected to be alert. The fatigue risk along with stress can be a combination which the airline needs to avoid in its own interest. As the government seeks to stabilise operations and airlines scramble to recover schedules, the central question now is whether compromising on fatigue standards for one carrier risks exposing the entire aviation system and its passengers to preventable danger."...