Air India is to move ahead with plans to ground 130 mostly female flight attendants deemed as ‘overweight’ in a move strongly condemned by aviation experts and the All India Cabin Crew Association.
The state-owned airline had last year asked 600 flight attendants to lose weight within six months after a ruling from India’s airline regulator the directorate-general of civil aviation.
They were classed as ‘temporarily unfit’ for flight duties and asked to lose weight while being monitored by airline medical staff.
"About 130 of them failed the reassessment. We are now declaring them permanently unfit for their job as flight attendants," an Air India spokesman said.
They will be given ground assignments at airports, it added.
All flight attendants were assessed based on body mass index which calculates ideal weight for a person’s height, following the directive from the aviation regulator.
"This move to impose a certain BMI, ignoring experience and other performance parameters, is immature, misogynistic and shockingly sexist," said Mark Martin, an aviation industry consultant.
"We seem to have lost the plot on what is needed from flight attendants."
The move was also slammed by the All India Cabin Crew Association.
"Any industry insider would vouch that Air India flight attendants are the best, mainly because of their long experience. So, this guideline and the management’s decision to follow it to the letter is unacceptable," the association said.
