The staff had been grounded for years and were sacked after a medical board declared them unfit for duty. The airline says they were given ample opportunity to shed weight.

'They haven't been flying for two to three years for being exceptionally overweight,' Mr Jitendra Bhargava, the airline's spokesman, told Reuters.

Mr Bhargava confirmed some of the air hostesses had approached the New Delhi High Court for a legal challenge, which was later thrown out.

'That is their democratic right,' he said.

This is not the first time the airline has sacked employees for being overweight, he added. -- REUTERS