Evanston, IL – July 9, 2020 – Aero K, a proposed new South Korean airline, has revealed a genderless uniform collection for its staff that focuses on practicality rather than age or gender. The new start-up, the low-cost airline hopes to begin operations as soon as this month in a country that focuses very much on gender, beauty, and age.
According to local South Korean media, airlines such as Korean Air and Asiana remain reluctant to hire crew above the age of 30, while the director of a specialist cabin crew recruitment company once associated the hiring process to a beauty contest.
“First of all, they have to be physically perfect,” Pablo Lee, the director of Airline News Center said, “… over 60kg is kind of overweight, but rarely some people get hired even if they weigh more than that because they are tall.”
Medical centers in South Korea are said to offer special cabin crew plastic surgery programs because the competition and the desire to look perfect can be so intense.
However, that’s an image that Areo K plans to change with its new, groundbreaking genderless uniforms.
“The practical uniform of Aero K was created based on caring and respect to perform various jobs better than age and gender,” the airline said of its new uniform in a recent Facebook post. “In the end, all this concern is to perform the most important mission of passenger safety.”
Aero K had hoped to be in the air by April 2020, but due to COVID-19, the process of obtaining an air operator’s certificate has been delayed. Now, the airline hopes to get the relevant approvals by some point in July and then airborne by August.
Initially, Aero K will offer just one route between Cheongju and Jeju with a fleet of three Airbus A320 aircraft.
