Govt. owned flier, Air India has shifted 57 cabin crew members to ground jobs after labeling them overweight.
These crew members reportedly had a higher than permitted body mass index (BMI). Some time ago, the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) had found most of the crew members having disproportionate body weight and they were asked to lose weight in the given deadline.
As some members could not do so, they were temporarily (for six months) relegated to ground jobs. A ground job means loss of flying allowance of around Rs 40,000 a month. If these crew members, mostly air hostesses, don’t get back in shape in the stipulated time, they will be assigned ground duty permanently.
As per the guidelines of DGCA, the ideal BMI for a cabin crew is 18-25 for male and 18-22 for female. Most of the cabin crew that have demoted reportedly had BMI over 30.