Fifty seven “overweight” cabin crew members of Air India have been temporarily taken off from flying duties and posted for ground duty.
The crew members have been instructed to “shape up” within a stipulated period, failing which they would be grounded permanently, sources said.
The national carrier has 3,800 cabin crew members, of which more than 2,500 are women. Of the total cabin crew strength, around 2,200 members are on permanent roll.
“These cabin crew members had been found overweight during the periodic review and were told to get fit for flying within a given amount of time. However, as they failed to do so, they were taken off from flying duties last month and given ground jobs,” a senior official said.
In May 2014, the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) had finalised rules regarding medical fitness, which said that ‘obese’ cabin crew members, who fail to shed weight in 18 months, would be declared permanently unfit to fly and perform duties on air. If a crew member is found to be “overweight”, with medical parameters in check, he/she is given three months to reduce weight to acceptable levels. If the medical examination reveals problems, he/she is declared ‘temporarily unfit’ for three months, which will be followed by a reassessment.
As per the DGCA’s regulations, a Body Mass Index (BMI) of 18-25 is normal for a male cabin crew member, while for a female crew member it is 18-22.
A BMI of 25-29.9 for a male crew member is considered overweight, while 30 and above is obese.
For female crew members, a BMI of 22-27 is overweight, while 27 and above is obese.
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