The twenty-first century has seen the change in labour markets being more and more marked by the flexibility of labour markets, the use of the contractual structure of work and performance-based workforce management practices. On one hand, these developments have resulted in operational efficiency in industries but on the other hand, they have also brought issues about the welfare of workers, job security and safety at the workplace. These issues are especially relevant to the safety-sensitive industries like aviation, the quality of workforce in which not only the welfare of employees but also the security of the population is directly dependent on working conditions. 

The present research paper discusses the new phenomenon of precarious or rather gig-like employment trends in the Indian aviation industry and how efficient the labour protection mechanisms are established in the Occupational Safety, Health and Working Conditions Code, 2020. Adopting the recent scheduling crisis at IndiGo as an example, the paper identifies the operational stressors, labour shortages, and scheduling patterns as possible factors that lead to the creation of a situation that compromises worker safety and labour welfare. 

In the analysis of legal duties of employers outlined in the Occupational Safety Code by doctrinal analysis and case-based analysis, the study examines the legal duties that employers have towards employees including fatigue of workers and abnormal working hours considering that these provisions are sector specific. This study contends that even after consolidation of labour laws under the new labour codes, there are still huge regulatory gaps in the provision of occupational safety issues in the highly specialised sectors such as aviation. The paper closes by giving policy recommendations that will enhance the protection frameworks in labour and at the same time in the aviation sector, the operations are efficient.