Overweight air hostesses can be grounded: HC

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New Delhi, June 4: : This the final call for all overweight air hostesses with the Indian Airlines -- cut the flab or else be ready to be grounded.

Hopes of a legal reprieve for air hostesses, crossing the weight limit, crashed on Wednesday with the Delhi High Court upholding the airlines' policy to ground such crew.

Five air hostesses, who were grounded for putting on excessive weight moved the court against the airlines alleging that the action was arbitrary and illegal.

Dismissing their petition, a bench headed by Justice A K Sikri held "there is no unreasonableness or arbitrariness" in the airlines' decision.

The rules prescribe different weight limits according to their height and age. For an 18-year-old air hostess with a height of 152 cm, the maximum weight permissible is 50 kg while air hostesses in the age group of 26 to 30 and a height of152 cm, the weight limit is 56 kg.

"Grace and concessions are not matters of legal right.

They are matter of policy and we do not find any illegality" in the decision, the court said.

The court had on May 5 reserved it's judgment on a bunch of petitions of Indian Airlines' air hostesses challenging their grounding for being overweight.

The air hostesses had also opposed the Airlines' circular of withdrawing permissible overweight limit of 3 kg over and above the upper limit as laid down for the cabin crew.

Chawla said operating cost for carriers have also increased as private airports now levy certain charges that were not being levied by the Airports Authority of India earlier.

"This is a normal process of transition from one system to another," he said.

Asked about cutting costs by the airlines, the Secretary said the operators have assured in the meeting they would look into all aspects where they could cut down costs.

He said decision on issues like consolidation, bringing larger aircraft and pruning flights are to be taken by the operators themselves.