Jetstar Airline uniforms

[smitho]

The recent blitz of Jetstar advertising made me sit up and take notice of the uniform the female cabin crew wear. I thought, I've seen that same uniform years and years ago.

Then it hit me one day, it is pretty much the same as Ansett Airline's uniform from the mid 1970s! To confirm my impressions, I did a Google search and came across this blog exchange from a Jetstar employee:-

ditzyboy
6th May 2004, 02:25
SkySista -
The inspiration for the JQ uniform is the Ansett 'Bumble Bee' garb from the '70s.

Yes it's a return to what once was. The JetHostesses of yesteryear. "How can both airlines be the same? We've got Susan Jones..." You better believe it!

It's new, it's now, it's never been done before - it's the BUMBLE BEE! The uniform is so out of date - it's new again!

The large black component was obviously inspired by our friend Morrissey. "Black - it's the new Black."

"Catch a ride on a smile - fly Jetstar. The System of the Golden Jets."

You see all our managers began flying in the 1970s (Ansett) when flying was glamorous. They have tried to bring back the glitz and glamour to it all with the '70s uniforms. All they have succeeded in doing is getting a Greyhound bus and attaching wings!

I can just see myself after pax have boarded the first flight. "Quick - call Australia's Most Wanted - tell them we have EVERYONE!" :E

[Sir Pompously]

I quite like the JQ Uniform, it is very noticable and bold. I did not place a linik between the two, however looking at it now it is obvious!

[smitho]

Yes, it is a smart uniform for Jetstar and practical - all they need now is to finish it off with a bee-hive hat for the hostesses!

I'd be interested in reading why Jetstar's marketing people went for a burnt orange color and a uniform style so 1970s and so clearly recalling Ansett. May be Jetstar's close association with Melbourne and the fact that Ansett's home was also Melbourne may partly explain things.

In the mid 70s, Ansett Airlines of Australia (AAA) adopted a Delta Airlines style "folded napkin"  logo which was boldly applied in that burnt orange color scheme to the tail - looked great on the B727s and DC9s especially. I've an AAA timetable from March 1977 where this orange is predominant. Greyhound Express was also using it in the mid 70s and V/Line (Victorian Railways) adopted oin their new N set carriages and locomotives in the early 1980s. And of course, on the local front, ACTION adopted it is 1975 (?) and is still using it!

Here is another Blog exchange concerning the Ansett Bee-hive uniform; I had to laugh when I read about the fate of cast off Ansett uniforms .... see below!

Wiley
16th September 2008, 04:30
... with the wide black waist band, the girls called it "the bumble bee outfit". With its cute little hat, I understand it was supposed to be a very short term uniform, (part of some short-lived publicity campaign) but (proving some things never change) money then ran short and so, with variations, it stayed on for quite a long time. Ansett crew (of both genders:)) will attest that it had a rooly easy to get at single zipper down the back of the dress, which made it veery popular (with cerw of both genders:):):)).

I went to Haymen Island years after the bumble bee outfit had been replaced (1980) and found that the cleaning ladies at the resort were wearing it as their uniform, which was a bit surreal. I'm also told that after that, they were to be found as the 'issue' dresses to the teenage girls in some of the Aboriginal settlements 'up norf'.

The folded napkin triangular 'A' logo was the one used at the time of the Murdoch and Abeles takeover, so some might say it was the one last used before a once wonderful airline began its slide into asset stripped oblivion.