AI likely to ground 125 overweight cabin crew members

NEW DELHI: Air India is likely to ground around 125 cabin crew for their failure to maintain weight requirements as prescribed by aviation regulator DGCA.

Now we have no option but to take them off permanently from flying duty,” sources said. The state-run airline currently has 3,500 cabin crew staff, of whom 2,200 are permanent employees and the rest are on contract.

As per the DGCA regulations, a BMI of 18-25 is normal for a male cabin crew, while for a female it is 18-22. A BMI of 25-29.9 for male crew is considered overweight and 30 and above is obese, while for females BMI of 22-27 is overweight and 27 and above obese. Based on periodic medical reports, the cabin crew would have to be categorized by designated doctors as ‘fit’, ‘temporary unfit’ and ‘permanent unfit’, according to the guidelines

As per the norms, a cabin crew member found overweight is deemed ‘temporarily unfit’ and given three months to reduce weight. “These employees have already availed 18 months time to meet the required BMI but failed to do so, leaving with us with no choice but to replace them,” the sources said.

source: times of indian