Fly the Chesty Skies

Can you name an airline after a euphemism for breasts? Do the virtues of a sports bar apply to an airline? Will they have bouncers? Will women fly it? Does it matter?

Hooters Air begins flying Thursday, when it will make its inaugural flight from Atlanta to Myrtle Beach, S.C. One-way tickets are $129 (slightly more than competitors’ average fares) whether you buy six minutes or six weeks before departure, a perk Hooters hopes will lure the last-minute golfer. A $99 introductory fare is available through April 6.

“The Hooters Air motto is ‘Easy to Buy, Fun to Fly,’ ” Hooters vice president Mike McNeil says. “We’re adding two Hooters girls to each flight, just to bring that added element of hospitality.”

The launch of Hooters Air coincides with Hooters’ year-long 20th anniversary celebration.

The jets are painted in the restaurant chain’s signature orange and white. Onboard Hooter girls wear their traditional orange short-shorts and white tank tops.

Only one plane will operate at first. A Newark, N.J.-Myrtle Beach route through Atlanta will be added March 20, and it also will offer one flight a day.

Why Myrtle Beach? Because Hooters has four restaurants along the resort town’s 30-mile stretch called “The Grand Strand,” an area populated with dozens of golf courses. [USA Today]