My new favorite airline!

[rin and john 71]

If they only had service from the USA to Asia....

http://www.bangkokpost.com/business/aviation/255175/it-out-with-the-old-in-with-the-new-for-nok-air-cabin-crews

It's out with the old, in with the new for Nok Air cabin crews

The chance of being served by a cabin attendant older than 30 aboard Nok Air is already close to nil, with passengers most likely to be attended by a stewardess in her early 20s.

These are some of the fresh young faces chosen to be Nok Air flight attendants last week. The budget carrier, whose cabin crews average 26 years old, embodies the growing trend among regional airlines, which are shortening the working life of their onboard staff and replacing them with younger ones. Airlines across the region are recruiting fresh, young and good-looking faces to do the job, lowering minimum age requirements and imposing short contract terms. For instance, Nok Air stipulates applicants should not be over age 25, while 24 is the maximum at Taiwan's EVA Air as well as Thai Smiles, the regional offshoot planned by Thai Airways International (THAI). In its most recent recruitment round in Bangkok ending last week, EVA even required female applicants to be single.

Much to the displeasure of cabin attendant unions, airlines, particularly in Asia, are grounding older cabin attendants, especially females, and replacing them with younger ones primarily to rejuvenate brand image and appeal to passengers. Analysts say airlines also want to cash in on the energy, enthusiasm and dedication that are normally associated with youth in order to drive service efficiency and project a better impression on passengers, not to mention reduce salary expenses. But many bigger legacy airlines with state-controlled status or powerful unions are prohibited from pursuing such an approach, although THAI can still ground female cabin attendants at age 45.

"This has nothing to do with sexist attitudes, but rather marketing," said Patee Sarasin, Nok Air's chief executive. "We want to give Nok Air a dynamic lifestyle image while living up to passengers' expectations of being served by fresh, friendly and efficient staff."

The carrier's working cabin attendants range in age from 21-29, which puts it in the running for youngest stewardesses. A Nok Air cabin crew is given a three-year employment term, with three-year extensions on a case-by-case basis if they prove able to sustain their work standard and looks. Crews then "retire" to other airlines, which has been the policy ever since the budget airline took to the skies eight years ago.

"Pretty girls who are not very nice due to maybe big egos and ugly ones who may have beautiful characters can become Nok Air cabin attendants. What we do is combine the best of the two _ beautiful girls with nice personalities," said Mr Patee. He said the result has been that Nok Air receives very few complaints from passengers. Another Nok Air executive said among those that are received, the most serious involve stewardesses not smiling enough.

The age limits and short employment contracts have never proved a barrier to attracting new recruits for Nok Air. More than 2,000 applicants vied for 41 positions in Nok Hunt #12, the most recent recruitment round. The previous round saw 4,000 girls competing for 25 slots.

"We've never had any complaints about the terms of employment. Applicants are aware of the criteria and willingly accept them," said Mr Patee. He said upon leaving, management helps them to find jobs at international airlines wanting trained personnel. "If we retired them at age 30 or above, the opportunity of finding new jobs at other airlines would be more difficult," Mr Patee added.