Airlines are marking International Women’s Day by operating flights with all women crew.
Air India, Jet Airways, Ethiopian Airlines and Jet2 are operating flights totally staffed by women – on the ground and in the air.
Air India
Air India made history flying the world’s longest all-women operated and supported flight on the non-stop Delhi – San Francisco route.
The flight AI 173 departed from Delhi on March 6th and landed in San Francisco after flying almost 17 hours and covering a distance of around 14,500 km.
Air India will also operate 20 domestic flights that will have women pilots, cabin crew and staffers.
The airline has about 3,800 women employees, including pilots, cabin crew, engineers, technicians, doctors, security personnel and executives.
Jet Airways
Jet Airways’ flights 9W301 / 9W302 between Mumbai and Delhi were operated by women pilots and cabin crew.
Similarly, the airline’s evening flights from Delhi to Mumbai 9W361 / 9W362 will be serviced by an all women cockpit and cabin crew.
Every aspect of the flights was managed by an all-women crew including engineering, ground handling, cargo, ramp and airport services.
The technical services were attended by women aircraft engineers, technicians and flight dispatchers; while the non-technical work on the ground was handled by women duty managers, counter staff, security officers, and cargo personnel.
Nearly 35 per cent of Jet Airways’ workforce are women.
Ethiopian Airlines
Ethiopian Airlines will mark this year’s International Women’s Day with an all-women operated flight dispatched on the Addis Ababa – Kigali route.
Women will operate all aspects of the flight, on the ground and in the air.
They will be in charge of cabin operations, airport operations, flight dispatch, load control, ramp operations, on-board logistics, aviation safety and security, ticket offices, catering, air traffic control and global call center.
Ethiopian Airlines has around 3,000 women employees, about 30% percent of its total workforce.
Jet2
Jet2.com will today mark International Women’s Day with a flight operated entirely by female staff, both in the air and on the ground.
The 16.30 Leeds-Bradford to Amsterdam flight will be checked-in, loaded, boarded, pushed back and crewed by 12 women. They include the captain, first officer and duty manager plus the cabin crew, ramp team, dispatcher and passenger service agents.
Lufthansa
Five flights of the Lufthansa Group with 63 female and one male crew member will depart Frankfurt, Munich, Geneva, Vienna, and Brussels for New York. Lufthansa, SWISS, and Brussels Airlines flights will have women-only crews.
Austrian Airlines
On Austrian Airlines flight OS087, all but one crew member will be female. Although Austrian Airlines employs female captains, there currently is none flying the Boeing 767 deployed on the route to New York.
Porter Airlines
On March 5, an all-female Porter Airlines crew made the 12-minute flight from Billy Bishop Toronto City Airport to Waterloo Wellington Flight Centre for their International Women’s Day event.
N.B. Image credit: air india/twitter
