Too Heavy to Fly? Air India May Ground 130 ‘Overweight’ Cabin Crew
Cabin crew members who do not meet new weight regulations will have to opt for voluntary retirement or be grounded
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Not being light as a feather can cost 130 ‘overweight’ cabin crew of Air India their jobs as they did not get in shape after repeated warnings, according to a Telegraph report.
The Directorate General of Civil Aviation had introduced weight standards for cabin crew two years ago and turned down a proposal from Air India for their relaxation.
Most of the cabin crew happen to be women and this comes as a blow to the government-owned airline which is already struggling to keep afloat.
“The option before us now is either to ground cabin crew members falling short of weight standards or to ask them to opt for voluntary retirement,” a senior official in the personnel department of Air India said.
In May 2014,the DGCA had issued a circular to airlines classifying their staff as “normal”, “overweight” or “obese” on the basis of their BMI. The DGCA in response to Air India has said that the regulations were given on the basis of “technical and efficiency grounds” and could not be rolled back.
The airlines have been given an 18-month deadline by the directorate to comply with the guidelines. The argument behind the new regulations is that cabin crew needs to be fit and agile for passenger safety during emergencies.
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