KARACHI: Pakistan International Airlines has grounded 140 flight attendants for being overweight and excluded them from promotions and the duty roster for July flights, reports citing sources said Sunday.
The flight attendants, both male and female, could not adopt a strict diet plan amid the Covid-19 pandemic, reports said.
On the other hand, a PIA spokesperson in a statement put the number of grounded flight attendants at 85 and said the decision was taken after continuous complaints.
The spokesperson added that the airline has issued warnings multiple times to the overweight flight attendants before taking the action.
In 2019, the airline had mulled over a proposal to offload its overweight flight attendants from international flights. In this regard, its administration had announced to gradually reduce the waiver of 30 pounds of excess weight to zero pounds in upcoming months.
Meanwhile, the Senate was informed earlier this month by the aviation ministry that the PIA had incurred a huge loss due to the allegedly fake license scandal. The PIA incurred an estimated deficit of Rs7.9 billion.
