Famed for its chicken wings and scantily clad waitresses, is a cultural icon - but few people know that the world’s most famous ‘breastaurant’ used to do more than serve carby food. Once upon a time in the early 2000s, Hooters took to the skies with an airline inventively named Hooter’s Air. It flew Americans all over the for three glorious years before it crashed and burned - figuratively and financially rather than literally.
But what led the famously mildly titillating restaurant to think it could run an airline? And how did it go so spectacularly wrong? In December 2002, Hooters owner Robert Brooks acquired Pace Airlines - a charter airline. When he bought the planes, reports Brooks was only thinking about a flying billboard, which could have his bright orange brand plasterer across it, but soon he realised there was a bigger picture. He decided to rebrand the planes as Hooters Air and run them as a fully functioning airline which would offer several domestic routes for the low price of $129 (£100).
The planes would fly domestically to 15 destinations across the USA and offered additional legroom - a rarity for any low cost flight. Unfortunately, due to their lack of Federal Aviation Authority certification, Hooters waitresses were not permitted to act as flight attendants. They weren’t even allowed to serve food on board - and no, Hooters flights did not serve their famous wings.
Instead, each flight would have two Hooters girls who essentially wandered around.
