PC Air Recruits Transsexual Flight Attendants

Thailand has a newly formed airline, PC Air, which has hired 6 transgenders as flight attendants, promoting equal opportunities for ’3rd sex’ people in Southeast Asia. More than 100 transsexuals applied for the positions, and the company’s boss says that they expect to hire more. The carrier is also hiring non-transgenders.

One of the largest populations of ‘kathoey’ in the world can be found in Thailand. The term refers to male-to-female transgender people. Doctors in the country have found cheap and fast techniques for sex changes if people are willing to go under the knife for it.

However, the airline isn’t only hiring transsexuals as flight attendants. President Peter Chan says he believes transgenders can have several careers, not only in the entertainment industry. A lot of them dream of being flight attendants, he continued, and he’s made that dream a reality. Society has changed…evolved, and he’s a pioneer, believing that other organizations will follow his idea, he explained. It’s not required that applicants change their sexual orientation to be considered for the job, he noted. What’s important, he added, is that they give good service and have the necessary language skills.

Thanyarat ‘Film’ Jiraphatpakorn is one of the few transsexual applicants that was hired. The 23-year-old winner of the 2007 Miss Tiffany beauty pageant says that she is ecstatic about the recruitment. She didn’t think that they would actually hire anyone that applied, as this has happened in the past, she noted.

The transsexual staff will wear a special gold ’3rd sex’ name tag that will help other PC Air workers and travelers identify their gender. The carrier isn’t operating services yet, but they hope to be by April.