Gov’t planning to slash pilots’ maximum duty hours by up to 30 percent

The government is moving to reduce airline pilots’ maximum allowable duty time per flight by as much as 30 percent and require airlines to manage maintenance workers’ fatigue.

According to the aviation industry on Sunday, the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport (MOLIT) is preparing a set of measures to enhance aviation safety, centered on shortening maximum flight duty periods for pilots and cabin crew. The ministry plans to commission a research project soon to finalize details.

Flight duty time refers to the period from when crew members report for duty before a flight until the final engine shutdown after the last flight in a given sequence. If the duty involves more than one flight segment, the times are combined.

Under the task outline released earlier this month, the future cap on duty hours will consider multiple factors, such as whether the flight is at night or during the day, the number of consecutive takeoffs and landings, flight distance and the time difference between departure and arrival points.

Night or early-morning departures are expected to have shorter limits. For example, the ministry suggested that if crew members start work in the early morning (4–5 a.m.) and have five or more takeoffs and landings during their time, their maximum duty time could be limited to 9 hours. Under current rules, with a two-pilot crew, the limit can be up to 13 hours.

Fatigue management

The government also intends to amend the law to include maintenance workers in mandatory fatigue management.

At present, for fixed-wing aircraft maintenance personnel, only a maximum working time is stipulated in technical standards.

“Due to night and long-haul operations and varied flight environments, the risk of fatigue accumulation among flight and cabin crew has increased, potentially affecting safe operations,” MOLIT said, adding that night maintenance and shift work for mechanics raise concerns over human error.

Fatigue management for crew was listed as a task in the ministry’s April aviation safety innovation plan, but the specific details have been made public for the first time.

The inclusion of maintenance staff will also be studied in the upcoming research project. A related bill, prompted by a fatal Jeju Air crash in which human error emerged as a possible factor, is pending in the National Assembly and could gain momentum.

However, experts say improving effectiveness is as urgent as designing the measures, as fatigue among aviation workers has long been recognized.

MOLIT previously studied a Korean-style fatigue management system in 2018, but it failed to deliver results. The current aviation safety law allows airlines to choose between a fixed duty time limit and a fatigue risk management system, and all Korean carriers currently opt for the former.

This article from the Hankook Ilbo, a sister publication of The Korea Times, is translated by a generative AI and edited by The Korea Times.