Maharaja lets fat men fly

Air India has over 200 overweight male cabin crew members. But no action is being taken against them

Air India has over 200 overweight male cabin crew members. But no action is being taken against them

It seems, the Maharaja suffers from a gender bias. National carrier Air India may have grounded ten overweight airhostesses but when it came to dealing with their male counterparts, the airline officials probably forgot to take a look at the rule book.

According to sources, more than 200 male flying crew members in the airline are overweight. That too not by three or four but by more than 10 kilogrammes. Interestingly, no action is being taken against them.

Gender discrimination

"There are more than 200 overweight male flying crew members. But neither have they been grounded nor sacked like the airhostesses," said an Air India official, wishing not to be named.u00a0 He added that most of the overweight male crew members were recruited before 1997 and the problem is rarely visible among young flight attendants.

An Air India spokesperson denied discrimination on the basis of gender. "Those who are found overweight, are given time to get back into shape. Dismissal from the job is done in extreme cases," he said.

However, sources said that the overweight male crew members are only asked to reduce their weight, though they started tipping the scales years ago. "These employees are found to be overweight in every annual medical check-up. But they are only asked to reduce. In some regions, the airline has even stopped conducting medical fitness examinations to check the weight of its crew members," added the official.

But the airline has an answer for that too. "There are many crew members who had signed a health agreement with the company. Under the agreement, the company has to pay for the employee's membership at a health club to stay in shape. If the airline starts doing this it will have to shell out Rs 2 to 3 crore annually," said the official.

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