In-flight bikini dance lands carrier VietJet Air in hot water

Civil Aviation Administration of Vietnam (CAAV)  decided to fine VietJet Air VND20 million ($956) for organising a Hawaiian-themed dance on the airline’s first flight between Ho Chi Minh City and Nha Trang.

Five beautiful girls performed the three-minute dance on the August 3 flight while passengers recorded the show on camera phones. The girls were not airline employees, but contestants in a beauty contest organised by a Vietnamese newspaper. The performance was posted online on the day after that and spread on the internet.

Nguyen Trong Thang, chief inspector of the CAAV, said VietJet Air “violated local aviation regulations when organizing the dance show without gaining permission”, meaning that VietJet Air was not fined because of  the bikini uniform.

Even though the CAAV affirmed the performance in the condition that the airplane was flying stably and the pictures were taken while mobile phones were in flight-safe mode and did not pose any risk, it still wanted the airline to ask for permission before hosting it.

“We will pay a fine after receiving the official statement from CAAV,” said a representative at VietJet Air.

He added in the upcoming time, VietJet Air would implement some measures to improve the quality of first flight between Ho Chi Minh City and Haiphong.

Actually, this is not the first time VietJet Air has hosted an in-flight dance performance. The airline had ever host a dance show on the occasion of launching its first flight in the market. However, the performers at that time were the airline employees in its uniform.
Thang said the in-flight performance, if licenced by CAAV, also needed approval from the cultural management authority.

But Vu Xuan Thanh, director of the Office of Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism, told local media that there had been no legal regulation managing art performance on airline at the moment. Furthermore, a non-commercial show does not have to be approved by the state authorities.

In fact, for passengers in the VietJet Air’s flight, most passengers were satisfied with the dance show, said the airline representative.

VietJet Air is among two private airlines operating in Vietnam at this time. The low-cost airline started its flights last December with three airplanes. During the past months, the airline implemented a series of in-flight promotion actions to attract passengers.

The carrier from August 15, 2012 will introduce a “priority boarding” service, which will enable passengers to be the first to board the aircraft and to collect their baggage after their flights.n