New Delhi: Air India has decided to ground about 130 flight attendants, mostly women, who have failed to meet government-imposed weight standards, angering cabin crew and aviation experts who see the move as "sexist".
The state-owned airline had last year asked 600 flight attendants to lose weight within six months. It now plans to assign over a fifth of them to ground jobs because their body mass index or BMI levels are still above prescribed limits.
A person's BMI expresses how heavy she is for her height, and is calculated by dividing her weight in kilos by the square of her height in metres.
A May 2014 circular by the directorate-general of civil aviation had asked all domestic airlines to classify their flight attendants into "normal", "overweight" and "obese" and ensure that only the "fitter" are assigned aircraft duties.
It said an airhostess was "normal" if her BMI was between 18 and 22, "overweight" if it was between 22 and 27, and "obese" for any figure above 27. For male stewards, the standards were 18-25, 25-30, and above.
After the circular was issued, an Air India human resources official said, the airline's 3,500 cabin crew members were tested and 600 were found overweight or obese.
13/09/15 Sumi Sukanya/ABP Live
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The state-owned airline had last year asked 600 flight attendants to lose weight within six months. It now plans to assign over a fifth of them to ground jobs because their body mass index or BMI levels are still above prescribed limits.
A person's BMI expresses how heavy she is for her height, and is calculated by dividing her weight in kilos by the square of her height in metres.
A May 2014 circular by the directorate-general of civil aviation had asked all domestic airlines to classify their flight attendants into "normal", "overweight" and "obese" and ensure that only the "fitter" are assigned aircraft duties.
It said an airhostess was "normal" if her BMI was between 18 and 22, "overweight" if it was between 22 and 27, and "obese" for any figure above 27. For male stewards, the standards were 18-25, 25-30, and above.
After the circular was issued, an Air India human resources official said, the airline's 3,500 cabin crew members were tested and 600 were found overweight or obese.
13/09/15 Sumi Sukanya/ABP Live
