Low cost carrier VietJet Air is set to open a direct route from Ho Chi Minh City to Jakarta, and it looks like conservatives need not worry about a certain controversial aspect of the way their air hostesses dress when they fly to Indonesia.
Earlier this year, the government announced plans to allow VietJet to open a route to Indonesia, which drew some controversy due to the airline’s previous bikini PR stunt – during which time their air hostesses donned bikini uniforms aboard a flight – with some people assuming (or secretly hoping) that the bikinis were the standard uniform for the airline’s air hostesses and that they would wear them on all flights, including to and from Indonesia.
However, Indonesia’s ambassador to Vietnam, Ibnu Hadi, has confirmed that VietJet’s flight attendants will be appropriately attired to and from Indonesia while announcing the imminent opening of VietJet’s Ho Chi Minh City-Jakarta route.
“I’d like to explain that the bikini (stunt) was only for one event. It was for the airline’s launch of their new route to Nha Trang, which is a resort city so that’s why they wore bikinis. (The airline) has been reprimanded by their (the Vietnamese) government for their stunt,” Ibnu said yesterday, as quoted by Liputan 6 yesterday.
“VietJet is a budget airline and they will open a route to Indonesia without the bikinis. The opening of the route is still being discussed. Hopefully before the close of this year.”
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Since Vietjet Air launched in 2011, the company has only occasionally had their stewardesses don their trademark red bikinis for special events, such as inaugural flights to beach destinations and on their company calendars. The PR stunts have undoubtedly proved fruitful for the low cost carrier, which is projected to take over the majority of Vietnam’s airline market share in the near future and has already made its CEO, Nguyen Thi Phuong Thao, the first female billionaire in the country.
