"Old, fat and ugly" is what Yevgeniya Magurina jokingly calls a group of flight attendants of Russia's Aeroflot who she claims have been sidelined in an apparent drive to make the cabin crew younger and more physically attractive. She is one of just two women who have taken the carrier to court for that. A Moscow court is due to rule Tuesday in Magurina's lawsuit against Aeroflot in which she maintains she was taken off the sought-after long-haul international flights because of her looks. The flight attendant's claim, which triggered a wave of support as well condemnation, has put the spotlight on how women in modern Russia are still often judged by their physical appearance. The first warning shot rang for Magurina last summer when the 42-year old went to pick up a new uniform and discovered that Aeroflot no longer stocks any above Russian size 48 (US size 10). Magurina, who says size 48 fits her on the hips but not on the breast, used to order a larger size and get it tailored. Then, all flight attendants were ordered to be weighed and photographed as part of a contest to staff a special business class crew. Several months later, Magurina, who had typically worked as senior attendant, arrived at the Sheremetyevo airport for her flight only to see she was assigned a junior role: "You scan your pass, the names of the crew light up and you see your position. No one has even told me." Aeroflot has dismissed Magurina and Ierusalimskaya's lawsuits as "a routine employee vs. employer dispute that has been deliberately inflated to the scale of a public campaign aimed at tarnishing the airline's reputation," according to Vladimir Alexandrov, the company's deputy CEO for legal matters.<br/>
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IndiGo says it has not had any unplanned flight cancellations arising from on-going issues with the Pratt & Whitney PW1100G engines that power its Airbus A320neos. The airline's comments follow media reports that it had cancelled 85 flights in the last week due to issues with the PW1100G powerplants. The airline denied this but said that there have been days where it had to park up to nine A320neos due to the lack of spare engines. IndiGo adds, however, that flights were not affected since it has already "factored in the reduced aircraft capacity while scheduling flights". IndiGo expects that it may take another 12 to 18 months before design changes aimed at addressing the problems are fully implemented by P&W. However, it reveals that a new tax change in the country is delaying replacement powerplants and has caused some "unplanned short-term flight cancellations". IndiGo adds that it has grounded four A320neos "for as much as three weeks" as their spare engines are awaiting customs clearance.<br/>
Romania's premier has sent auditors to Romania's national airline Tarom after it reported significant losses for the first half of the year. PM Mihai Tudose dispatched officials to Tarom Monday after criticizing managers for a US$26.6m loss for the first six months. Media reported Tarom's managing director Eugen Davidoiu resigned Monday. Commenting at the weekend on what he termed Tarom's "historical loss," Tudose said the airline won't be sold or closed down but that something needed to be done "because it's a national symbol." It needs to "become profitable," he added. Davidoiu, who has held the post since February, said he doubted an audit would reveal irregularities during his tenure. Tarom has 2,000 employees.<br/>
Ukrainian investigators have disclosed that an Antonov An-74TK-100 suffered power loss in both engines before a runway excursion in Sao Tome. The Cavok Air aircraft, bound for Accra, had encountered a flock of birds during the take-off on 29 July, says the Ukrainian air accident investigation authority NBAAI. It says that, as a result of the bird collision, the aircraft "lost both engines" and the crew aborted the take-off. The twinjet was fitted with Progress D-36 powerplants. "The aircraft skidded off the runway and sustained major damage," the authority adds. Five crew members suffered only minor injuries. NBAAI has appointed a Ukrainian representative to the probe.<br/>