sky

Delta flight attendants are complaining that a new set of uniforms introduced by the airline are still causing skin rashes and worse almost a year after the company introduced them. And while the airline says it is addressing the issue, some flight attendants say they fear retaliation for complaining. Last May, Delta unveiled a new set of slick purple uniforms designed by Bravo’s Project Runway star Zac Posen and manufactured by the retailer Land’s End. The uniforms were designed to turn Delta’s 24,000 flight attendants into walking advertisements for the airline. Delta encouraged flight attendants to promote the new uniforms on their social media accounts. Shortly after their introduction, some female flight attendants said that they started getting sick, reporting skin rashes, shortness of breath, and hair loss. “I noticed right away after I put the uniforms on that I had shortness of breath and I have been a runner my whole life,” said one Delta flight attendant. “I don’t smoke or anything like that, so when I couldn’t get up the stairs without being extremely winded, I know there was some sort of problem.” Another flight attendant said she noticed huge rashes all over her body that made it impossible for her to sleep. “I don’t even want to call them rashes because it’s worse than that. Some of them look like chemical burns, some of them look like chemical bites, but they don’t go away for weeks at an end,” she said. “I had a huge patch that got infected and I had to take an antibiotic, even, to get rid of it.” On a private Facebook group used by over 2,000 flight attendants viewed by the Guardian, hundreds of flight attendants have complained of health problems as a result of wearing the new uniforms.<br/>

A Garuda Indonesia aircraft serving flight number GA 972 with 338 people onboard made an emergency landing at Bandaranaike International Airport (BIA) in Colombo at 9 p.m. local time on Tuesday due to low cabin pressure in the middle of the flight. The Airbus 330 departed from Aceh at 8:20 p.m. local time for Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. However, in the middle of the flight, the crew detected low cabin pressure inside the cabin. Out of concern for safety and the passengers' comfort, the pilot decided to make an emergency landing at a nearby airport in Colombo. “Everyone on onboard landed safely. At the moment all passengers are staying overnight at a nearby hotel while waiting for a replacement airplane, which departed from Denpasar [Bali] at 12:30 p.m. local time,” said Garuda Indonesia corporate secretary Ikhsan Rosan in an official statement received on Wednesday afternoon. Ikhsan said the decision to send another aircraft was to ensure safety and security. Garuda also sent a technician to Colombo to make sure the Garuda aircraft that made the emergency landing could be operated again. <br/>