HANOI - A Vietnamese airline has been fined for hosting a mid-flight dance
by bikini-clad beauty pageant contestants without first gaining permission,
state media said Thursday.
Low-cost carrier VietJet Air was fined $1,000 (S$1,244) by the nation’s
aviation authorities for organising the Hawaiian-themed dance to celebrate its
maiden flight between Ho Chi Minh City and the tourist hub of Nha Trang, the
Tuoi Tre newspaper said.
Five women, all candidates in a local beauty contest, performed the
three-minute dance on the August 3 flight while passengers recorded the show on
camera phones and later posted clips online, the paper added.
The airline “violated local aviation regulations” by organising “an
unapproved show on a flight,” Nguyen Trong Thang, chief inspector of the Civil
Aviation Administration of Vietnam, was quoted as saying in the report.
Thang added the pictures were taken while mobile phones were in flight-safe
mode and did not pose any risk.
The incident has stirred public debate in conservative Vietnam after
photographs and video clips of the sultry performance spread on the Internet.
-AFP
Five women from a beauty pageant performed a three-minute Hawaiian dance on
board the VietJet Air flight.
It took place on August 3 in celebration of the airline's maiden flight, VJ
8858, between Ho Chi Minh City and the tourist hub of Nha Trang.
Passengers on board were treated to a surprise when five bikini-clad women
strutted down the aisle of the plane.
Many passengers whipped out their cameras to take pictures and videos, which
were later posted online.
The beauty contestants, who are not flight attendants, wore the airline colours
of red and yellow on them.
