Shape up or ship out: Airlines tell airhostesses

New Delhi: Shed flab or face action seems to be the mantra of state-run airliners with regard to overweight airhostesses as three leading public carriers have grounded 43 out-of-shape stewards.

Indian Airlines and Air India, now merged into one entity, have grounded 22 and 16 overweight airhostesses respectively, while Alliance Air has taken action against five stewards so far, the Government told the Rajya Sabha on Tuesday.

"Such cabin crew are asked to reappear for weight check periodically and are assigned flight duty once they conform to the prescribed weight limits," Civil Aviation Minister Praful Patel said in a written reply to a question.

He said cabin crew who continue to remain overweight are evaluated by a Medical Board and based on its assessment and recommendations, further action is taken as per the Terms of

Employment.

To a question on safety, Patel said four incidents of breach of separation, were reported at the Delhi airport last year and steps are being taken to avert recurrence of such incidents.

The steps include modernisation of air traffic services, implementation of safety management system at Delhi airport, modification of standard operating and coordination procedure for simultaneous runway operations and flexible use of airspace for reducing traffic congestion.

Breach of separation is an official description of near misses.

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