Known for his outrageous publicity stunts including flying a hot air balloon around the world and driving a tank down New York’s Fifth Avenue, Virgin boss Sir Richard Branson is set to put a smile on his competitors faces in his latest stunt.
The billionaire entrepreneur will dress up as an air hostess and serve passengers on rival airline AirAsia, after losing a bet with AirAsia’s owner.
The Virgin boss, owner of the Virgin Racing Formula One team had placed a bet with Lotus Racing boss Tony Fernandes on whose team would finish highest in the 2010 championships.
Despite the fact that both teams finished with zero points in their debut F1 seasons, Lotus finished ahead due to better finishes.
The bet entailed the loser, as unhappy as he may be, to dress up as a woman and act as an air hostess, serving champagne to guests on one of the winner’s flights.
60-year-old Sir Richard will now have to exhibit a dress and serve champagne to a selection of charity auction winners on a Kuala Lumpur-bound AirAsia flight from London.
Branson’s opposition, Mr Fernandes, a 46-year-old Malaysian businessman who owns budget airline AirAsia, worked for Branson’s Virgin Atlantic as a financial controller in the late 1980’s.
He said: ‘There has been a fantastic spirit of competition between us and Virgin Racing all season and one of the first people to come and congratulate us on the pit wall was Richard.
‘We agreed we will run an online charity auction for the seats on our Kuala Lumpur/London route to raise money for a charity of Richard’s choice and give fans of both teams the chance to be on the flight.
‘We have had this great bet running all season and now it’s time for Richard to start preparing himself for some hard work and the likely pain of a pair of high heels!’
He joked: ‘Many years ago Richard Branson employed me so I’m looking forward to him sucking up to me as a stewardess!’
‘The date of the flight will be announced soon and the aim is to raise as much money as possible for good causes so the discomfort Richard will go through is worth as much as possible,’ he added.
Back in December, Branson was confident of his team’s chances, saying of his rival Fernandes: ‘He has an airline, we have an airline, and if we beat him he can come and work on one of our airlines as a Virgin stewardess.’
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