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Business News/ Companies / People/  Richard Branson to serve AirAsia X flight as ‘stewardess’
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Richard Branson to serve AirAsia X flight as ‘stewardess’

Branson to turn flight attendant after he lost a friendly bet to AirAsia’s Tony Fernandes over F1 car racing event

Virgin Atlantic Airways chairman Richard Branson will serve as a flight attendant on board a Perth-Kuala Lumpur flight of Malaysian low-fare carrier AirAsia X on 12 May. Photo: AFP (AFP)Premium
Virgin Atlantic Airways chairman Richard Branson will serve as a flight attendant on board a Perth-Kuala Lumpur flight of Malaysian low-fare carrier AirAsia X on 12 May. Photo: AFP
(AFP)

Mumbai: Virgin Atlantic Airways Ltd’s chairman Richard Branson will serve as a flight attendant on board a Perth-Kuala Lumpur flight of Malaysian low-fare carrier AirAsia X Sdn Bhd on 12 May, a Sunday, after losing a friendly bet to AirAsia Group chief executive officer Tony Fernandes over a Formula One car racing event.

“The Virgin Group entrepreneur, Sir Richard Branson, will finally shave his legs, slip into a sexy red skirt and take to the skies as a female flight attendant next month as part of a long-anticipated wager with AirAsia," AirAsia said in a statement on Monday.

AirAsia, in a statement, said Branson will sport “a pair of high heels and freshly smooth legs—will strut his stuff as a flight attendant on a special AirAsia X charity flight from Perth to Kuala Lumpur".

Branson and Fernandes had wagered on which one of their Formula One racing teams (then Virgin and Lotus) would finish ahead of each other in the debut season of the 2010 Formula One Grand Prix in Abu Dhabi, with the loser to serve as a female flight attendant on board the winner’s airline. Tony Fernandes’s then Team Lotus finished two spots above Branson’s Marussia Virgin Racing team in the final rankings.

A part of the revenue generated out of this flight would be donated by AirAsia X to the Starlight Children’s Foundation in Australia. The airline will also donate 10% of all inflight sales including duty free merchandise sold on board the flight to the foundation.

“Both Richard and I have come full circle and who would have thought my mentor will be serving as a flight attendant on AirAsia. It’s an awkward moment when you go down memory lane and recall the times I used to work for Richard. And it’s hilarious to think now, that it’s Richard who will be working for me as a sassy flight attendant," Fernandes said in a statement.

“As an AirAsia X’s flight attendant, he has to comply with our grooming standards and that includes shaving his legs, donning high heels, putting on some makeup and slipping into the AirAsia’s famous red uniform."

Branson said he has to practice walking in high heels as an initial step.

“Tony won our bet fair and square and I’m a man of my word—so I will dress up and make a splash in the name of Starlight, a fantastic charity," Branson added.

On 5 April, AirAsia said that the application made by AirAsia Bhd, through its investment arm AirAsia Investment Ltd, to the foreign investment promotion board of India seeking approval for a 49% investment into an Indian joint venture company named AirAsia (India) Pvt. Ltd partnering Tata Sons and Arun Bhatia of Telstra Tradeplace Pvt. Ltd has been granted a formal approval. This approval will enable AirAsia (India) to apply with the Indian regulator Directorate General of Civil Aviation for the aviation licence to operate as an Indian airline.

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Published: 08 Apr 2013, 10:11 AM IST
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