Virgin Atlantic changed its dress code, and job applications doubled

Virgin Atlantic job applications have doubled since the airline changed its dress code to allow male crew to wear skirts.

Shai Weiss, Virgin's chief executive, said that there had been a 100 per cent rise in candidates after it dropped requirements for staff to wear "gendered uniform options".

As well as allowing male staff to wear skirts and female counterparts trousers, the need for cabin crew to wear make-up was removed and a ban on displaying tattoos was overturned. Gender-neutral pronouns were also introduced as part of Virgin's "see the world differently" campaign.

Mr Weiss said that the reforms to the historically conservative industry had been a "tremendous" help as airlines grapple with a red-hot labour market.

"We saw a 100 per cent uplift in applicants following the campaign, 'See the world differently'," he told The Daily Telegraph, on board Virgin Atlantic's inaugural flight from Heathrow to Tampa.

Unlike many of its rivals, Mr Weiss said that Virgin was not struggling to fill vacancies after being forced into radical cost-cutting measures during the pandemic.

The Telegraph, London

See also: Australia's newest airline in groundbreaking first on crew uniforms

See also: Push to get Qantas to ditch 'gender-based uniform requirements'