BANGKOK – PC Air, a newly-formed Thai airline, has selected three Ladyboys in its first round of hirings to promote equal opportunities for what is dubbed the “third sex” in Thailand.
The new airline’s boss, Peter Chan, is enthusiastic about his groundbreaking move because of the opportunities it would afford transsexuals.
“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,” he said. “I just made their dream come true. Our society has changed. It’s evolution. I’m a pioneer and I’m sure there will be other organizations following my idea.”
One of the successful candidates was Thanyarat Jiraphatpakorn, who won the annual Miss Tiffany “kathoey” beauty pageant in 2007. A kathoey is a male-to-female transgender person or an effeminate gay male in Thailand.
“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 Jiraphatpakorn.
Thailand has the largest number of kathoeys, or Ladyboys, with the country’s surgeons pioneering cheaper and quicker sex change operations because of the sky-high demand from men wishing to become women.
PC Air also hires non-transsexuals.
