PIA’s excess weight

The new management orders members of the cabin crew to reduce their respective weight within six months

The PIA seems to have a problem with excess weight - and here we are not talking about baggage that is loaded on its aircraft. In a surprising development, we are told that the new management has ordered members of the cabin crew to reduce their respective weight within six months. The target is five pounds a month.

The national carrier estimates that the problem is not that big. It is only around 100 — just over 5% — of the cabin crew who would need to lose weight by July 1 to avoid grounding. Local media have quoted Mashhood Tajwar, the PIA spokesperson, as describing the crackdown on overweight flight crew as a “regular, routine matter,” and suggested that the memo was issued as standards for weight had lapsed over time, and was issued to ensure that the flight attendants were “slim, smart and fit.” Fair enough.

The airline argues in its defence that no one would like to have shabby crew in the aircraft. He also said that the airline had received complaints about “obese” flight attendants but did not elaborate on how many passengers had taken issue with their cabin crews’ appearances. One can only wonder why passengers would find the cabin crew obese or shabby. Almost never have I come across such staff on planes. Rarely does anyone complain of a cabin crew being fat – the complaints are usually about quality of service.

But the PIA is serious. The threat of grounding is real. If staff are grounded, they lose out of flying allowance and other benefits. There is an incentive to be on flights and that may be taken away from them, the management has warned. In a memo distributed to approximately 1,800 cabin crew members, the airline management said that they must trim, or face being grounded.

Till now the weight rules were not applied with such force. As things stand, flight attendants who are 30 pounds overweight are still eligible for flight duty. But now the airline has issued its crew a suggested weight chart for differing heights and body types.

For a “medium frame” woman of five feet seven inches height (1.7 metres), for example, the guide is 133 to 147 pounds. Figures have also been quoted for male cabin crew members, I am told. The weight check of all the cabin crew will be carried out at their base stations respectively and comprehensive data will be maintained for perusal of management. At the same time, those already on weight check need to report monthly to a “grooming cell” — the term is not defined any further — to receive clearance to fly.

The target for the cabin crew in the office order, which was issued as a new year gift on January 1, 2019, by Aamir Bashir, the national flag carrier’s general manager of flight services, advises that official excess weight limits would be cut back by five pounds a month. The initiative was put in place for reasons of both appearance and health and insisted that the PIA was not alone in maintaining their cabin crews hit weight targets.

While all this is a good initiative, one can argue that more needs to be done to make the national carrier a healthier airline. To begin with, the health issues of the cockpit crew also need to be taken into account. It is one thing to have a pilot with a fake matriculation certificate, another to have one in the cockpit who is medically unfit. In the past we have seen instances where the health and condition of cockpit crew have been an issue at international destinations.

But there is more to health then just keeping the flight crew in top shape. The same should apply to the staff on ground as well. The PIA needs to do more with regards sprucing up in health centres and investing in medical facilities.

Coming back to the target, here is some advice for the cabin staff. To reach your goal of five pounds and you’ll need to lose about 1 1/4 pounds per week. A 625-calorie daily deficit helps you achieve this rate of loss, since a pound equals 3,500 calories. To achieve this, you will have to stop having airline food – which itself will be a challenge. Another option for the airline would be to introduce healthier meals on flights. Will the management be able to rise up to this challenge?

Published in The Express Tribune, January 7^th, 2019.

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