乘泰国航空 看人妖空姐

The president of the first Thai airline to hire transsexuals as flight attendants on Thursday said he was a "pioneer" and predicted other carriers would follow his lead.

Fledgling airline PC Air has already recruited six crew of the "third sex" and boss Peter Chan said recruitment, driven by a belief in equal rights, would continue.

"I think these people can have many careers, not just in the entertainment business, and many of them have a dream to be an air hostess. I just made their dream come true," he told the reporters.

Thailand has one of the largest transsexual populations in the world and its surgeons have pioneered ever cheaper and quicker sex change techniques for those opting to go under the scalpel.

But the airline does not require applicants to have gone through a surgical procedure, merely that they meet job criteria, including language skills and good service.

"When it's their dream job or the job they love, they can do it even better," Chan said.

"Our society has changed -- it's evolution. I'm an pioneer, and I'm sure there will be (other) organisations following my idea."

More than 100 transsexual people applied for the first round of jobs.

Among the successful applicants was Thanyarat "Film" Jiraphatpakorn, winner of the Miss Tiffany beauty pageant in 2007, according to a report in Thailand's Nation newspaper.

"At first I thought they would just take applications but not actually recruit us, as happened at other places before," said the 23-year-old, adding that she was delighted to have been chosen.

The airline is not yet in operation, but hopes to be fully up and running by April with charter flights across Asia.

泰国一家航空公司首开先例，雇用变性人担任空服人员。该公司总裁本周四表示，他成为该领域的“先驱”，预计其它航空公司也会效仿。

新近成立的PC航空公司已雇用了6名“第三性”担任空服。老板陈彼得称，此番招募是受平权理念的启发，还将继续。

他在接受记者采访时说：“我觉得变性人可以从事很多种职业，不单单是娱乐业。很多变性人都梦想能当上空姐，我只是帮他们圆了这个梦。”

泰国的变性人口总数在全球居首，该国外科医生为选择变性的人首创出更廉价、更快速的变性技术。

但PC航空公司并不要求应聘者都做过外科变性手术，只要符合语言能力、服务水平等方面的工作要求即可。

陈先生说：“只要她们想要成为空姐，或者她们爱干这一行，就可以做得更好。”

“我们的社会已经变化了，是进步了。我就是个先锋，我很肯定会有其它机构效仿。”

在首轮招聘中，100多名变性人提交了申请。

据泰国《国家报》报道，成功应聘者包括2007年“蒂芬尼小姐”选美比赛获奖者谭雅娜。

23岁的谭雅娜说：“我原本以为他们只是收收申请摆摆样子，但不会真的录用我们，就像其它公司那样。”她还说很高兴能被雇用。

这家航空公司还没有正式运营，但希望能从4月份开始如期运营，并开通穿越亚洲国家的包机。

Vocabulary:

fledgling: young, new, or inexperienced（初出茅庐的，无经验的）

transsexual: of, pertaining to, or characteristic of transsexuals（改变性别的，两性间的）

up and running: 全面而准确地运行

charter flight: an aircraft flight that has been arranged and paid for by an individual or group for a specific trip（包机）