Nok Air Thailand's Racy Calendar Featuring Maxim Models Creates Controversy [PHOTO]

Thai airline, Nok Air has released a sexy, and controversial, calender featuring Maxim magazine models. The models are beautiful yes, but some see it as a sexist marketing tool.

Prisana Pongtatpitakkul, the Ministry of Culture's Permanent Secretary said to The Nation, "They lack the sense of social and cultural responsibility and ignore social and cultural repercussions -- particularly female dignity."

Nok Air's calendar shows models on the plane runway wearing bright yellow, the color of the airline and scantily dressed. Patee Sarasin, Nok Air's chief executive said to CNN, "Understanding the [Culture] Ministry, their reaction isn't really a surprise," he said, "however, given what the public is exposed to on a daily basis, we believe that we have not crossed the line."

"The airline business has always been seen as sexy globally, that is why our planes - we believe they are well designed - appropriately become the background of these models," he added.

The Telegraph reported Nok Air's reputation for hiring young staffers and replacing them with their older staff members. "The idea of keeping our attendants young is because we believe young girls, being new at their profession, would be more passionate in serving our customers because their focus is more on their career," Sarasin said to CNN.

He added that despite its somewhat sexist image, many airline customers really like the calendar.

"Most customers love the calendar and definitely want to own one," Sarasin said to CNN. "As of today, the calendar is becoming a hard-to-find commodity, and the requests for copies keep coming from all walks of life."

Thai Airways has 49 percent ownership in the airline.

Nok Air means "bird" in Thai and the company says on its website that it "symbolizes friendship and freedom to travel."

"Yellow was chosen as the airline colour as it also symbolizes warmth and friendship in our Thai culture. On Jan 16 th , 2006, the company name was changed to 'Nok Airlines Co., Ltd'. and Nok Airlines Co., Ltd. registered as a listed company and changed the name to "Nok Airlines Public Company Limited" effective as of 18 January 2013," says the airline's website.