Indian airline denies hiring slim women to save fuel

An Indian airline has rubbished reports that they hired slim women as cabin crew to cut down on their fuel consumption.

A GoAir spokesman told CNN that the airline had not implemented a gender-biased recruitment policy, and that their male-female cabin crew ratio of 40:60 was among the most male-heavy in the industry in India.

He also confirmed that the airline will seek to adjust this ratio to the industry norm of 30 men to 70 women.

Other weight-reducing initiatives that have been employed by the low-cost airline is that the size of in-flight magazines has been reduced and the potable water tanks are no longer being filled to capacity as only 35 - 40 percent of that water is actually used.