The airline's two unions, Air India Employees' Union (AIEU) and All India Cabin Crew Association (AICCA), submitted a letter to Chairman and Managing Director Vikram Dev Dutt, denouncing the directive as dehumanising and in breach of aviation regulator DGCA norms.
According to an official order, Air India has decided to inspect cabin staff members' grooming and measure their body mass index (BMI) at airports right before their flights.
The airline's two unions, Air India Employees' Union (AIEU) and All India Cabin Crew Association (AICCA), submitted a letter to Chairman and Managing Director (CMD) Vikram Dev Dutt on Monday, denouncing the directive as dehumanising and in breach of aviation regulator DGCA norms.
In a letter to the CMD, the two unions stated that according to DGCA standards, BMI checks might only be performed by medical practitioners. According to the unions, non-medical "grooming associates" doing BMI checks at airports violate not just DGCA standards but also "established service conditions and court rulings." "We must state that we do not oppose to BMI checks, which crew have been subjected to for more than 15 years; nevertheless, the same must be administered by medical professionals, in the privacy of the Air India clinic, as has been the case previously," the unions stated. The process of weighing scale checks at airports "dehumanises and denigrates" Air India's cabin crew, they claim, in addition to violating working conditions.
The directive, dated January 20, 2022, comes only days before Air India is handed over to the Tata company, which bought the airline in a competitive bidding procedure last year.
According to the order, cabin crew who are properly dressed and groomed according to uniform standards and regulations present a positive and professional image of the airline.
"It is consequently underlined that all cabin staff conform to consistent norms notified by the circular of November 18, 2019," according to the directive. Vasudha Chandana, Executive Director — In-flight Services, Air India, issued the directive on January 20 to all cabin crew members.
"Grooming colleagues have been assigned the role of documenting observations on cabin crew BMI management/grooming/uniform turnout when they report for a flight or standby duty at CCMCO (Cabin Crew Movement Control Office)," she explained. She added that these observations must be collated and delivered to her office. She stated that each cabin staff member would be inspected or assessed once every three months. However, it will be the duty of the flight's cabin supervisor to guarantee that their staff is well-dressed and follows all uniform standards, she stated.
She emphasised that all cabin supervisors must set a good example and guarantee cabin staff compliance at all times. She stated that any noncompliance by a crew member must be documented in the cabin supervisor's report.
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