Russian Airline officials say passengers don't want to see overweight flight attendants

Two flight attendants sued Aeroflot for discrimination

Russian Airline, Aeroflot, on Tuesday, defended the policy of regulating the appearance of its female employees, claiming passengers paid for "the appearance" of the flying staff.

Addressing a press conference, two representatives from Aeroflot justified financial penalties imposed on its female staff if they were over-weight.

"Aeroflot is a premium airline and part of the reason people pay for tickets is the appearance of its employees," said a member of the airline' public council, Pavel Danilin. "Ninety-two per cent want to see stewardesses who fit into the clothes sizes we are talking about here."



Another member of the council, Nikita Kirchevsky argued the penalties should instead be taken as motivation for losing weight, blaming the women for "trying to blacken the name of the state air company".

“I myself used to weigh 103 kg, and now I weigh 80 kg. I just corrected my eating habits and lost weight. I don’t understand why the request to be a particular size is unrealistic," he said.

The press briefing comes after lawsuits were filed against the airline by two flight attendants who claimed they were moved to lower-paid domestic flights because of the way they looked. Flight attendant union's Ilona Borisova said over 600 Aeroflot employees were affected by the policy. The airline won both cases and dismissed allegations in a statement issued in February.



According to one of the complainants, Evgenia Magurina, the flight attendants were photographed, measured and and weighed in some cases - those who did not meet the airline's standards were removed from international routes. “We have had our salary lowered due to our clothing size. We are allowed to fly, but our salary is lowered.”

Magurina was personally attacked during the press conference by Krichevsky, who made a reference to her "large breasts" and termed her insistence of having her lawyer present when she met with the airline's bosses as 'suspicious'.

Hours after the press conference, Aeroflot in a statement distanced itself from the public council members' comments - stating that they did not reflect the company's position. It said the conference was "their own initiative".

"Aeroflot’s position was made clear in court where, as is well known, the cases of Magurova and Ierusalimskaya were dismissed," it said.

This article originally appeared on the Guardian.