Female cabin crew at British Airways will be allowed to wear jumpsuits in a relaxation of its rules after the airline unveiled a new uniform for the first time since 2004.
Tunics and hijabs are among the options in a collection by the British fashion designer and tailor Ozwald Boateng.
British Airways does not allow male pilots and crew to wear skirts, in contrast with Virgin Atlantic’s gender-neutral policy. Gender expression rules announced by BA in November do allow male cabin crew to “wear a touch of mascara,” false eyelashes and nail varnish.
BA said it was the first airline in the world to roll out a “modern jumpsuit” for employees on board, though it will be available only to female staff.
The collection will be worn by more than 30,000 of the airline’s employees from spring. It was five years in the making and suffered repeated delays including from the pandemic.
Advertisement
A tailored three-piece suit has been created for men. Women who do not want to wear the jumpsuit can wear a dress, skirt or trousers.
Boateng, now 55, was the youngest tailor and first black designer to open a shop in the Savile Row area. Since 1990, when he started making bespoke suits, he has made clothes for Jude Law, Laurence Fishburne, Jamie Foxx, Russell Crowe, Keanu Reeves and Mick Jagger. He was appointed OBE in 2006.
The Welsh designer Julien Macdonald, now a judge on Britain & Ireland’s Next Top Model, created the uniform that is being replaced.
Sean Doyle, chief executive of BA, said the new uniform collection would “carry us into our future, representing the very best of modern Britain and helping us deliver a great British original service for our customers”.
He added: “We wanted to create a uniform collection that our people are proud to wear and, with the help of over 1,500 colleagues, we are confident that we have delivered this.”
Advertisement
Cabin and flight crew uniforms were used in secret tests on cargo flights across Europe, and engineers wore the new clothes while maintaining aircraft out of sight at Manchester and Cotswold airports.
Emma Carey, a cabin crew member who participated in the trials, said: “It’s been a real honour and responsibility to help test the new uniform and put it through its paces at 35,000 feet to make sure it’s fit for purpose, with thousands of my colleagues counting on me.”
Old uniforms will be donated to charity or recycled to create toys, tablet holders and more, and a number of items will be gifted to the airline’s museum.
