A passenger's eye view of an Air Wales plane

The difference between these women and their counterparts on more mainstream services is that all of them are no more than 5ft 3in tall.

The company insisted on the height restriction to stop them banging their heads inside the small aircraft it uses.

Air Wales, which operates out of Cardiff International Airport, uses two Dornier 228 planes for its flights between Cardiff and Cork and for its Swansea to Dublin service started last year.

The planes have a clearance height of only 5ft 3ins and so rather than risk a health and safety issue should staff be forced to stoop continually to do their job, it advertised for eight air stewards under that height.

Captain Ray McInerney, general manager at Air Wales, said: "If you have someone taller, then they will get a very painful back and neck, and it becomes a health and safety issue.

The Air Wales livery

"Other airlines have a minimum height restriction of 5ft 2in or 5ft 3in as stewards need to open the bigger doors on larger craft and open the overhead bins," he added.

Captain McInerney said: "The height does not affect the passengers as they are sitting down."

"I have been flying the plane for several years without any problems, and I am 6ft 2in.

Despite the restriction for applicants, Captain McInerney said that taller people are free to write in if they wanted.

However, if they are significantly over 5ft 3in, they would receive a letter detailing the reasons for the maximum height restriction.