Will Asian airlines allow female flight attendants to leave the make up and tight clothes at home?

Some regional airlines, principally AirAsia and Vietnam’s VietJet Air are being criticised for putting young female flight attendants in tight-fitting clothes or revealing outfits either on the job or in promotional videos.

The local online ‘outrage’ follows an announcement this week that Britain’s Virgin Atlantic has dropped a requirement that female flight attendants wear makeup. This sees Virgin join other major carriers that have eased their dress and grooming requirements after complaints about turning female employees into sex objects.

Just over a year ago, two Malaysian ruling party lawmakers chided the homegrown low-cost airlines AirAsia and Firefly for dressing their stewardesses in uniforms that are “too revealing”.

Senator Abdullah Mat Yasim, a division chief of the, then, ruling Umno party, said in Parliament the fitted attire of AirAsia’s and Firefly’s female flight attendants can “arouse passengers”, the New Straits Times reported.

VietJet took matters a step further with some racy promotions and select flights featuring bikini-clad flight hostesses. The airline is owned by a woman who hasn’t been afraid of using ‘sex’ to help launch the Vietnamese budget airline.

Meanwhile, Virgin Atlantic announced this week that female cabin crew members can work without wearing makeup. If they want to keep using lipstick and foundation, they must stick to an approved palette of shades.

A Virgin airline executive said the changes – which also include making it easier for women to wear pants over Virgin’s familiar red skirts – came after listening to employees.

“Not only do the new guidelines offer an increased level of comfort, they also provide our team with more choice on how they want to express themselves at work,” Virgin Atlantic Executive Vice President Mark Anderson said in a statement.

Last month, a separate union that represents American Airlines cabin crews objected to a video showing people dressed as flight attendants performing a musical number that suggested American uses sex appeal to attract high-paying passengers. The airline said it had no involvement in the skit.