Virgin Atlantic becomes first UK airline to allow tattoos on crew

Virgin Atlantic has lifted its taboo on crew tattoos. Photo / Supplied, Virgin Atlantic

Virgin Atlantic has relaxed its policies on visible tattoos for crew.

The airline becomes the first UK-Based airline to allow cabin crew and other customer-facing roles to display tattoos below the sleeve line.

The Airline's Chief People officer Estelle Hollingsworth said that it was about allowing crew to be themselves.

"Many people use tattoos to express their unique identities and our customer-facing and uniformed colleagues should not be excluded from doing so if they choose," she said.

Until June 1 visible tattoos below the sleeve line had to be covered in frontline customer service roles. Not all body ink is acceptable under the relaxed rules.

The airline says neck, face and head tattoos must still be covered, although it was currently reviewing that policy. Tattoos that could cause offence or are inappropriate will also have to be covered.

Virgin Atlantic crew can now show tattoos, but not on their face or hands. Photo / Virgin Atlantic, Supplied

Three years ago, Virgin Atlantic became one of the first airlines to drop requirement for female staff to wear makeup while on duty.

Virgin now joins Air New Zealand as one of the few airlines that allow visible tattoos on their crew.

In September 2019 the New Zealand carrier U-turned on its strict tattoo policy saying that staff would "proudly" be able to display tā moko and non-offensive markings as part of the uniform regulations.

Sydney Heremaia said he was turned down for a job with Air New Zealand because of his tā moko. Photo / Michael Cunningham

This was in spite of previously standing by the controversial policy in a vote five years earlier.

Cabin crew are subjected to strict dress-code regulations. In these conservative regulations on crew appearance and uniform, tattoos bar potential crew from being employed by most airlines. In some cases, such as Emirates, they stipulate how tall a cabin crew member can be - no shorter than 160cm.

Emirates also has a policy that staff should not show visible tattoos while in uniform. However, staff can cover modest body art "with bandages or cosmetics".