Branson gives passengers a serve

Virgin boss Sir Richard Branson was a "trolley dolly" with attitude as he flashed some leg while working for a rival airline.

SIR Richard Branson was a "trolley dolly" with attitude as he flashed some freshly-shaved leg while working for rival airline AirAsia today.

The billionaire boss of rival airline, Virgin Australia, was fulfilling a bet he lost to AirAsia CEO, Tony Fernandes, by dressing and serving as a flight attendant.

About 300 passengers on board the flight from Perth to Kuala Lumpur were treated to a skyhigh show, with Branson - sporting AirAsia’s short, tight red uniform and a full face of makeup - even performing a safety demonstration, which earned applause.

As the stunt-loving entrepreneur entered the plane, Aerosmith hit Dude Looks Like a Lady boomed over the internal sound system.

The flamboyant 63-year-old’s first duty was to take out a drinks tray.

The Virgin Group founder Richard Branson had his legs shaved, put on lipstick and squeezed into a red skirt to honor a bet by serving as a flight attendant on an AirAsia trip from Perth, Australia, to Malaysia.

While serving, he mischievously upended the entire contents on Fernandes.

“It slipped, it really did,” he insisted.

The Malaysian, who had to change into a dry set of clothes, made it clear who was boss.

“You’re going to be cleaning the toilets,” he said.

Virgin boss Richard Branson in drag as an AirAsia flight attendant after losing a bet to AirAsia owner Tony Fernandes. Picture: Supplied

Sir Richard Branson doesn't look sorry to have "accidentally" spilled drinks all over AirAsia boss Tony Fernandes. Picture: Supplied. Source: PerthNow

About 50 media from the UK, Japan, Malaysia, Thailand, Korea, Taiwan and Australia recorded Branson's every move as he made his way around the plane, shaking hands, kissing cheeks and posing for photographs with passengers.

“I could get to like this,” he said, putting a stocking-clad leg up on a passenger’s chair.

“All the girls want to have a touch. I don’t normally get that.”

Branson admitted to wearing a dress only once before, when he launched the ill-fated Virgin Brides business.

“I’m a great believer in having fun, throwing yourself into everything you do,” he said. “If you lose a bet you’ve got to honour that bet and if you can raise lots of money for charity, which we’ve done today, so much the better.”

Branson lost the bet to Fernandes more than two years ago. The pair wagered on which one of their Formula One racing teams would finish ahead of the other, in the debut season of the 2010 Formula One Grand Prix in Abu Dhabi.

Branson, who was in Perth this week to launch his recently acquired WA-based regional airline, said several events had hampered his ability to honour the bet before now.

“First, I broke my leg, then the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge decided to get married, then I burnt down my house on Necker Island,” he joked.

Funds raised by the stunt will be donated to the Starlight Children’s Foundation in Australia. AirAsia X will donate $100 from each seat sold on the flight. A VIP party at Perth’s Bar One last night also raised money, with benefactors chipping in to shave Branson’s legs on stage and buy auction items. $200,000 has been raised in total, with Multiplex heir Tim Roberts contributing half of that amount.

The flight ended with Branson being fired before he and Fernandes sprayed each other with champagne.

Virgin boss Sir Richard Branson sprays champagne after his shift as an Air Asia flight attendant is over. Picture: Supplied. Source: PerthNow

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No bonus gives Nokia boss 45% pay cut

NOKIA, once the world's biggest mobile phone maker, says chief executive Stephen Elop received no bonus in 2012 when the company posted huge losses, reducing his overall payslip by 45 per cent.

According to Nokia's annual report filed to US stock exchange authorities, Elop's earnings dropped from 7.995 million euros ($A10.22 million) in 2011 to 4.334 million euros last year.

While Elop's fixed salary increased by six per cent in 2012 to 1.08 million euros, his performance bonus was reduced to zero from 473,070 euros in 2011.

Other forms of remuneration, including deferred compensation, stocks, stock options and benefits, were 50 per cent lower than the previous year.

Nokia more than doubled its net losses in 2012, to 3.106 billion euros.

The company has said the worst is now behind it and posted a profit in the fourth quarter of last year, its first quarterly profit in 18 months.

Nokia lost its position as the world's biggest mobile phone maker to Samsung last year after dominating the market for more than a decade, and it now lags smartphone rivals such as Apple and Samsung.

Under Elop, a former Microsoft executive who took the reins of Nokia in 2010, the Finnish company has abandoned its Symbian platform in favour of new Microsoft Windows-based handsets.

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