Airspace restrictions in West Asia caused by the ongoing war in Iran have led to longer routes and flight hours, prompting Air India to urge the aviation regulator to grant relaxation from crew roster norms to ease certain long-haul operations, sources said on Thursday.

Air India has submitted a request seeking variation from the prescribed Flight Duty Time Limitations (FDTL) on certain sectors due to operational constraints .

The carrier has sought relaxation in two rules under crew roster norms.

Under the applicable FDTL provisions, the maximum flying time for a two-pilot
crew is 10 hours and the maximum Flight Duty Period is 13 hours.

Air India has requested permission to extend this by 1 hour and 30 minutes, which would increase the flying time to 11 hours and 30 minutes. For the flight duty period, an extension of 1 hour and 45 minutes has been sought.

Pakistan’s airspace closure for Indian carriers after Operation Sindoor forced domestic airlines to take longer routes for westbound flights toward European and American countries.

According to the sources, the matter is still under consideration. However, sources also confirmed that IndiGo has not made such a request.

In December 2025, the government had temporarily relaxed certain provisions of crew roster norms.