Flight Attendant Uniforms & Exceptional Cases

The profession of flight attendants is very challenging and demanding, but at the same time, it is also glamorous. Their appearance is one of the first things noticed by customers and it leaves a lasting impression. No doubt to say, flight attendants are the face of the airline they represent, and their uniform is the representation of the airline brand in every interaction and experience with customers. Airlines have a long history of employing designers to create their staff uniforms, which strictly meet the aviation regulations, but also have yielded glamour, style and sophistication.

One of the longest serving uniforms in the skies, Singapore Airlines’ world-famous “Singapore Girl” design from Pierre Balmain, is over 40 years old. Emirates boasts some of the most sophisticated and luxurious planes in the world. The airline’s stewardesses have gained a great reputation for their unique, recognisable uniform and their stunning good looks in equal measure, but the traditional style element is still highly valued. Other airlines which are world famous for the elegant designs of their flight attendants are: Etihad Airways, Qatar Airways, China Eastern, British Airways, Virgin Atlantic, Thai Airways, and Air France.

VietJet Air has been popular because of its very young flight attendants who wear bikinis for their inaugural flights to beach locations and are also featured on calendars wearing the same costumes. Thanks to the brilliant idea of staffing VietJet with glamorous women clad in sexy bikinis, this gave VietJet huge publicity all over the world.

According to Mrs. Nguyen Thi Phuong Thao owns 95% of VietJet and is poised to be the first female billionaire of Vietnam "We don’t mind people associating the airline with the bikini image. If that makes people happy, then we are happy”.

Unlike other airlines, P.C. Air was the first airline in Thailand to take transsexual flight attendants into the skies, and boost acceptance of the country’s “third sex”. Peter Chan, the airline’s president, believed that transgender flight attendants would prove more versatile than the airline’s more traditional recruits. Known locally as ladyboys or katoeys, Thailand’s transsexuals enjoy greater acceptance and visibility than their counterparts anywhere else in the world. When the airline was established, Chan hoped that Thailand, and the world, would eventually accept transgender people in everyday life: "This is the ladyboys' dream, and everybody has to have it as it's a human right" He said.

P.C. Air as an airline sadly failed, however it is to be hoped that the work of P.C. Air’s flight attendants will continue to allow other katoeys to explore careers off the stage and away from the beauty counter. This event was the beginning of the acceptance of transsexuals in Thailand, giving the opportunity for ladyboys to work in various fields, such as police, soldiers or even pilots in the future.