New Delhi: India's cabin crew on Tuesday attacked new guidelines from the civil aviation watchdog on how much they should weigh, branding them "crazy" and discriminatory.
The Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) issued the guidelines last week to Indian airlines flying domestically and overseas, setting out body mass index (BMI) and other health requirements for flight attendants.
Cabin crew members could be declared unfit and suspended from flying if their BMI, a measure of weight relative to mass and height, was outside a range considered normal, the regulator said on its website.
The regulator said the rules were aimed at passenger safety, with only fit and healthy cabin crew able to properly discharge duties especially during in-flight emergencies.
The new rules were likely to impact at least 600 members mostly working for state-run Air India, according to the airline's cabin crew union.
"The guidelines are arbitrary and discriminatory. They just can't wake up one fine morning and make some crazy rules citing flimsy reasons," a senior official of the All India Cabin Crew Association said.
13/05/14 AFP/Deccan Chronicle
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The Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) issued the guidelines last week to Indian airlines flying domestically and overseas, setting out body mass index (BMI) and other health requirements for flight attendants.
Cabin crew members could be declared unfit and suspended from flying if their BMI, a measure of weight relative to mass and height, was outside a range considered normal, the regulator said on its website.
The regulator said the rules were aimed at passenger safety, with only fit and healthy cabin crew able to properly discharge duties especially during in-flight emergencies.
The new rules were likely to impact at least 600 members mostly working for state-run Air India, according to the airline's cabin crew union.
"The guidelines are arbitrary and discriminatory. They just can't wake up one fine morning and make some crazy rules citing flimsy reasons," a senior official of the All India Cabin Crew Association said.
13/05/14 AFP/Deccan Chronicle
