Struggling Mexico flight attendants strip for calendar

It could be the Mexican remake of the Calendars Girls – just swap the Women’s Institute ladies portrayed in 2003 for slightly more glamorous Latina flight attendants.

Ten stewardesses with troubled Mexicana Airlines, which filed for bankruptcy in August and suspended operations, have launched a sultry aviation-themed calendar in a bid to call attention to their own plight and that of their airline.

The 2011 calendar features glossy shots of the flight attendants, clad only in bikinis and aviation shades or abbreviated uniforms, draped over propellers and striking racy poses in the cockpit.

It was the brainchild of 10-year Mexicana veteran Coral Perez.

‘It occurred to me because we all needed money, and I thought that with so many pretty girls [among Mexicana's staff] there were bound to be some who’d be interested,’ she said.

Each of the 10 ‘aeromozas’ (flight attendants in Spanish) who ended up posing paid out of her own pocket to help cover the £5,000 production costs.

‘The goal was to try to help ourselves because we lost everything overnight,’ said 26-year-old Maribel Zavala.

In fairness, this isn’t exactly a patentable innovation. Russia’s Aeroflot put out a fairly hardcore flight attendant calendar for their VIP’s over the summer, while Air Comet stewardesses took off their clothes and got photographed as part of a wage dispute with their own airline. And the female cabin crew of Ryanair have only very recently released their contribution to the world of scantily-clad cabin crew calendars.

However, that hasn’t stopped the calendar sparking a media frenzy in Mexico and the first run of 1,000 was sold out even before the launch and a second edition of 3,000 calendars, which cost about £8 each is in the works.

Its release came on the heels of Mexicana’s announcement that a restructuring proposal might allow it to resume some flights by mid-December. Under the plan, just 30 per cent of the company’s personnel would be rehired.

Founded in 1921, shortly after Dutch carrier KLM and Australia’s Qantas airline, Mexicana used to serve 65 destinations in Mexico, the US, other parts of the Americas and Europe.

Scott Snowden

This entry was posted on Tuesday, November 30th, 2010 at 1:12 pm and is filed under Airlines | News | North America. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.