Redundant flight attendants finding work as strippers - report

Many cabin crew members made redundant due to the COVID-19 pandemic are applying for jobs as strippers, according to a report.

It's been well documented how hard the travel industry has been hit, with the International Air Transport Association (IATA) forecasting 128,300 fewer aviation-related jobs in Aotearoa due to the coronavirus outbreak.

Air New Zealand alone is making up to 1500 cabin crew members redundant.

Some of those former flight attendants are apparently finding work in the adult entertainment industry.

Auckland strip club Calendar Girls reportedly told NZME it's "been inundated with job applications from ex-air hostesses" with "more than half of the online applications last month coming from redundant cabin crew".

The NZ Herald report also quotes a Kiwi former flight attendant who has become an exotic dancer since losing her job.

"Now is a good time to reflect on the other skills you may have and think about what else you could do to be financially stable," she reportedly told NZME. 

"[Losing my airline job] was devastating but there are many things in my life that I've always wanted to take up, and I guess this is one of them. When a door closes, another one opens."

Meanwhile, New Zealand's supermarket chains have been particularly busy during the pandemic and have provided jobs for many people recently made redundant in the travel and tourism industry.

In March, Countdown and Foodstuffs - the parent company of Pak'nSave, New World and Four Square - contacted Flight Centre NZ to offer short-term employment to its workers who had just been made redundant.

"From our people, our customers and from other businesses; what we never expected, but maybe should have, was such a level of kindness and empathy for our situation," Flight Centre NZ managing director David Coombes said at the time.

"It's a true testament to our culture here and the spirit of New Zealanders."