Sir Richard Branson Graduates as AirAsia Flight Attendant

A lipstick-wearing Sir Richard Branson finally earned his stripes as an AirAsia flight attendant on Sunday, when he honoured his friendly wager with AirAsia Group SEO, Tony Fernandes, on board AirAsia X’s D7 237 from Perth to Kuala Lumpur.

The Virgin Group founder and chairman spent much of the five and half hour journey pouring coffee or tea, serving meals, distributing goodies, entertaining and making inflight announcements for the lucky guests and international media on the flight which helped to raise money for the Starlight Children’s Foundation.

The event came more than two years after losing a bet to AirAsia Group Chief Executive Officer Tony Fernandes.

Sir Richard and Mr Fernandes had wagered on which one of their Formula One racing teams would finish ahead of each other in their debut season of the 2010 Formula One Grand Prix in Abu Dhabi, and that the loser would serve as a female flight attendant on board the winner's airline.

Mr Fernandes' team finished two spots above Sir Richard’s team in the final rankings.

“He is an entrepreneur, visionary, knight and adventurer, Sir Richard can now also add AirAsia flight attendant to his long list of credentials,” Mr Fernandes said. “Sir Richard graduated as a member of the AirAsia cabin crew with flying colours and he performed all his inflight duties with his usual good-humour and enthusiasm. Sir Richard is truly a great sport and AirAsia is pleased to be able to contribute to those in need through this charity flight.”

Sir Richard Branson said, “This has been a real first for me but I have enjoyed the experience and I have nothing but respect for what our fabulous flight attendants do every day to keep us safe. I am also grateful to have had Tony, whom I lost the bet to, willingly help me out on the flight. I trust we kept the passengers well fed and amused. It was a lot of fun. I’ve always said I’m a man of my word and I’m happy to have finally honoured the bet and contributed to a great charity along the way.”

AirAsia X will be contributing A$100 from each seat sold to the Starlight Children’s Foundation in Australia.

The airline will also donate 10% of all inflight sales including duty free merchandise sold on board the flight to the foundation.

AirAsia BIG loyalty program will also play a part by running a “Tweet2Donate BIG” social media campaign with the aim to garner 1 million BIG points from its members, equivalent to MYR10,000 (A$2200) to be channelled to the charity foundation.

AirAsia X estimates to raise over A$200,000 from the activities carried out during the cocktail and flight.

The Starlight Children Foundation was established in Australia 1988 and this year celebrating its 25th year, Starlight is dedicated to brightening the lives of seriously ill and hospitalised children, and their families, around the country.

In preparation for his new role, Sir Richard had his legs publicly shaved during a cocktail event in Perth on Saturday night. Other activities were also carried out throughout the evening to further raise funds for the foundation.

The fanfare ended at the Low Cost Carrier terminal in Kuala Lumpur where a brief graduation ceremony took place for Sir Richard. Tony Fernandes handed over the AirAsia cabin crew graduation certificate along with the AirAsia crew uniform and shoes to Sir Richard as part of the airlines gratitude to him for being such a great sport.