New Delhi: India's national flag carrier Air India Ltd has asked its overweight cabin crew to either stay grounded or to shape up as the airline's medical examinations revealed that most of it crew members were unfit, The Economic Times reported.
Air India's medical examinations which were pending for five years revealed that one out of every four flight attendants were overweight. Moreover medical examinations, which were fiercely opposed by unions, revealed that many crew members had a lot of life-threatening ailments, such as cancerous growth, cholesterol and diabetes, and heart diseases.
"We had two things in mind when we started this exercise: weight and general fitness. Though cabin crew treated it as punitive action, we think it has been a blessing in disguise for many," a senior AI executive told ET.
The official added that out of the 1,500 cabin crew examined so far, 20% were detected with hypertension, diabetes and cholestrol, some were in immediate need of angioplasty. Around nine were detected having early stages of breast cancer and malignancy.
It should be noted that the state-owned airline had asked its cabin crew especially air hostesses to undertake a fitness test before the end of March in order to estimate total body fat but the cabin staff of Air India Ltd refused to undergo medical test to check body mass index (BMI) unless airline first pays them for a gym membership.
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