Sir Richard Branson’s Australian budget carrier Virgin Blue was found guilty of discriminating against older women who applied to become air hostesses. Eight women aged between 36 and 56 took their case against the budget carrier Virgin Blue to a tribunal, after being put through job interviews that required them to sing and dance. Despite all being experienced former flight attendants with the failed Australian airline Ansett, none made it past the first round. One woman was told she lacked “Virgin flair”. “They were after a certain look that appeals to Richard Branson,” Theresa Stewart, 52, who had been a flight attendant for 27 years, told a hearing. “The assessment was designed to view a large number of people in a very short space of time to see how they look. If you had two beautiful, blonde girls, 25 and gorgeous, then they went to them like homing pigeons.” Virgin Blue admitted that it had not hired any cabin crew over the age of 36 in a two-year recruitment drive because mostly young women had applied. The women won their case, with one being awarded �2,000 for hurt and humiliation.