For four straight years each November, low fare Irish carrier Ryanair (FR) has offered travelers a way to donate to a worthy cause, while looking over a collection of nearly naked flight attendants displayed in the annual Ryanair Cabin Crew Charity Calendar, as reported on November 14, 2011 by Rumors, The Spectator, Flight Global, the Daily Mail, Blades Magazine, CNN and other sources.
The calendar has generated free publicity for the airline, praise for calling attention and support to niche charities that might otherwise go unnoticed, and criticism for objectifying women. Mary Honeyball, the British Labour Party Member of the European Parliament (MEP) described it as, "forcing cabin crews to participate", "sexualizing the airline industry", and "making a desperate bid for profits."
According to the carrier's PR savvy CEO, Michael O'Leary, such criticism is off the mark. More than 800 of about 4,000 of Ryanair's attractive cabin staff offered to pose their nearly bare bodies for the 2012 version of the calender, which this year supports the DebRA charity, as seen in the attached slide show which accompanies this report.
DebRA will be able to use the projected $140,000 in funds it will receive to send 50 families that include the so-called "butterfly children" who have a rare inherited skin disease called epidermolysis bullosa (EB), on a week long, medically supervised carefree holiday in Málaga, Spain.
All 10,000 copies of the calendars, with a retro style 1950s burlesque look in which the women are wearing bikinis and lingerie, are expected to quickly sell out. They each cost the equivalent of $13.80 in U.S. dollars, £8.50 in British pounds, and €10.00 in Euros.
Since the annual promotion began, Ryanair will have distributed nearly $675,000 to four separate charities, benefiting hundreds of families, and putting smiles on the faces of thousands of travelers who purchase the calendars.
The 2009 Calendar raised money for charity serving the homeless in Ireland, the Dublin Simon Community. The 2010 calendar gave the proceeds to KIDS, a British charity for disabled children and their families. In 2011, the German charity Tafel, which provides food to those suffering from poverty and malnutrition across Germany, was the beneficiary.
All of the monies raised from the calendar sales go to these good causes, and raise awareness about the services which they provide.
The no frills discount airline operates a fleet of 306 all Boeing 737-800 equipment, which will soon be delivered with only one toilet, in order to accommodate an extra 6 seats. While CEO O'Leary believes in having a little fun, he's not against his fliers waiting a little longer to go to the bathroom.
Perhaps it's that attitude and management style which saw passenger traffic grow 4 percent to 7.27 million in October 2011. The airline carried a total of 77.1 million people in the first 10 months of 2011, and delivered them to 165 destinations in Europe and Morocco, North Africa.
With the release of the 2012 calendars, some of those travelers will have something to read while standing in line to use the loo.
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