Hooters takes to the skies
10mar03
IF any of the passengers who boarded an ageing Hooters Air 737 suffered
from a fear of flying, none showed it.
Perhaps it was the thought of attractive young women in hot pants and
tight-fitting tank tops that set them at ease.
"We are politically incorrect and everybody knows it," Robert Brooks,
chairman of the Hooters of America restaurant chain and owner of the
airline said, marking the inaugural flight at Hartsfield Atlanta
International Airport.
"We aim to bring the fun back to flying," Mr Brooks said.
In a throwback to an era when airlines sought to titillate as well as
transport their largely male clientele, the Hooters of America restaurant
chain christened its namesake air service on Thursday with a maiden flight
between Atlanta and the resort town of Myrtle Beach, South Carolina.
It was clear from the outset of the 45-minute flight that Hooters, which
describes itself as "delightfully tacky," had an altogether different set
of assets in mind when it decided to enter the fiercely competitive but
financially-ailing airline industry.
Two of the ubiquitous "Hooters Girls," dubbed "ambassadors" for the purpose
of the flight, greeted gawking passengers at the cabin door. Both wore the
skimpy orange and white outfits made famous by the restaurant chain over
the past 20 years. Indeed, Hooters Air believes it can mimic other low-cost
US carriers, such as Jet Blue Airways of New York, and take a good slice of
passengers from the more established big airlines.
The market for Hooters Air is made up largely of mostly male golfers and
sportsmen, who presumably will be willing to pay good money to rub
shoulders with scantily clad pretty women at 30,000 feet.
The airline is admittedly starting off small.
But industry analysts say Hooters Air will be hard pressed to offer
regularly scheduled service for long.
US airlines have lost billions of dollars since the September 11 2001
attacks on the United States threw the industry into an unprecedented
financial crisis.
Henry Harteveldt, an airline analyst for Forrester Research in San
Francisco, described Hooters Air as a novelty idea that would not give the
bigger players anything to worry about.
"I expect Hooters Air to bounce along until they go bust," Harteveldt said.
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