Canada transport regulator reviews pilot fatigue rules following industry complaints

An aircraft sits parked at Vancouver International Airport, in Richmond, B.C., on Monday, August 18, 2025. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Darryl Dyck

MONTREAL -- Canada’s transport regulator is reviewing its regulations to curb pilot fatigue due to industry concerns they are too complex, in the latest case of a country wrestling with rules designed to improve safety.

India’s aviation regulator granted its largest carrier IndiGo a one-time exemption from new pilot night-duty rules, among other regulations, after poor planning by the airline resulted in at least 2,000 flight cancellations this month.

Transport Canada told Reuters on Tuesday it has been “diligently reviewing” pilots’ flight and duty time regulations in consultation with pilots and air operators.

Since the current rules took effect in 2018, industry participants had shared concerns over the “complexity and inoperability of the current framework,” the regulator said.

The head of a global pilot union group said this week that India’s decision to grant the exemption from the rest rules was concerning, while in Canada, a union representing aviators said Transport Canada had proposed exemptions to the country’s duty-time regulations.

The Air Line Pilots Association said Transport Canada had proposed allowing pilots to work up to 23 days in a row rather than having a guaranteed day off per week. Transport Canada did not comment on the proposed exemptions.

Canada and other countries have introduced regulations over the years to limit the maximum number of hours that commercial pilots can fly and cap the time they remain on duty to improve safety.

Transport Canada said in 2018 that the rules would lower the number of flight hours to 1,000 from 1,200 over 365 days and set a maximum work day anywhere from nine to 13 hours, depending on start time. A commercial airline pilot’s flight duty period was previously capped at 13 hours and 45 minutes.

In India, under the new rules, the maximum time pilots can fly during flights that stretch into the night, between midnight and early morning, is capped at 10 hours.

The United States faced industry opposition when it released new rules to combat pilot fatigue in 2011, with an industry group arguing the regulations would cost US$2 billion a year and over time cut 27,000 jobs directly tied to the industry.

Reporting by Allison Lampert in Montreal; Editing by Jamie Freed, Reuters