The fat of India

Spare a thought for India's airlines. They've had a hard time in the economic slowdown, with falling demand, excess capacity and increasingly angry employees.

Today, around 500 Jet Airways pilots called in sick to protest about the forced retirement of two pilots. Last year, in an effort to reduce a bloated work force and its costs, Jet Airways, which is India's largest private carrier, simply laid-off 1,900 cabin staff overnight - equivalent to 15% of the total staff. Within a day, there was a public outcry and even a threat from militants to prevent Jet Airways aircraft landing in Mumbai. Management backtracked and the staff were quickly reinstated.

But Air India did manage to dismiss 10 cabin crew last Christmas, for being overweight! They had been grounded the previous June for failing to meet the company's weight restrictions, but had been unable to slim down in order to keep their jobs.

And just the other week, 20,000 Air India staff staged a three-day hunger strike after the airline said it would delay the payment of wages.

Now let me get this straight. Jet Airways pilots are apparently all sick, and Air India's ground staff have been refusing to eat. So why was it so difficult for those 10 cabin crew to slim down?