For sale: Ryanair’s 2011 Charity Calendar

Not too stingy for a low cost airline that is frequently in the headlines for its ridiculed marketing schemes! Ryanair has just released its annual charity calendar, featuring a dozen female bikini clad flight attendants on the beaches of Spain’s Tenerife. All funds collected from the sales of the calendar go directly to German charity Tafel.

The low cost airline fulfilled the dreams of 50 000 users who voted on-line for this year’s calendar theme. Airline passengers could choose between four: flight attendants in bikinis (“Do not mess with a winning team”); sexy passengers (“You love us, we love you, share our love”); sexy male flight attendants (“Gentlemen, show what you’ve got to the girls”); and finally volcano Eyjafjöll. Unsurprisingly, 57% voted for flight attendants in spandex swim suits.

The result: the 12 most beautiful Ryanair flight attendants landed on a beach in the Canary Islands (of course one of Ryanair’s destinations via flights to Puerto del Rosario).

Here is a video featuring the making-of, in case you might be hesitating to put it under the tree this Christmas (and under the tree of all your friends):

Like Ryanair’s flights, their calendar is also a budget deal! For a mere £8.50 you can order your own copy of the calendar on www.ryanaircalendar.com. It is also for sale onboard flights. All of the proceeds (Ryanair expects more than £85 000) will be going to Tafel, a non-profit organization that provides food to those suffering from poverty and malnutrition in Germany. A German charity was chosen because 30% of sales of the 2010 calendar were made in that country.

This calendar is also a good chance for Ryanair to show its soft side, another good marketing strategy in fact.

If you prefer ski instructors undressing in the snow to flight attendants on a beach then check out this other calendar of the best ski resorts (and their instructors) in the Alps.

Img: Ryanair.com