Melbourne Airport has marked International Women's Day with an international, cross-continental celebration of women in the air, on the ground and on the airwaves.
Air India crewed last night’s inbound AI308 service from Delhi and outbound AI309 flight back to India with entirely female crews in both the flight deck and cabin.
The aircraft was serviced on the tarmac at Melbourne Airport by a female ground team and managed in the air by a team of female air traffic controllers.
The flights were part of a joint initiative between Melbourne Airport, Air India and Airservices Australia to showcase the incredible work done by women in aviation.
In addition to its all-female crew, flight AI308 was serviced by female engineers, security personnel, hub control and rostering staff.
India boasts the highest per centage of female flight deck crew in the world, with women holding more than 15 per cent of the nation’s commercial pilot licences, compared to around 10 per cent in Australia.
Air India is a global leader, with 16 per cent of its flight deck positions filled by women and almost 15 per cent of leadership roles.
Melbourne Airport Chief Executive Officer Lorie Argus said the flights highlighted how far the traditionally male-dominated industry had come, while recognising the work still to do.
“Flights like these show that anything is possible for women in aviation today,” she said.
“Whether you want to be the CEO, a pilot, a safety officer, a refueller or an Air Traffic Controller, aviation has a breadth of diverse and exciting career paths for women, which simply wasn’t the case when I started my career in aviation 30 years ago.
“The saying ‘you can’t be what you can’t see’ is true, and I hope shining a light on these amazing women inspires other young women to follow in their footsteps.
“But I also look forward to the day when we no longer need to call out these roles, because we have an equal representation of women in our aviation workforce.”
Air India Chief Executive Officer and Managing Director Campbell Wilson said the airline took great pride in the contribution made by its female team members.
“Air India Group has been dedicated to building a workplace where diversity is celebrated, and every employee is empowered to reach their full potential,” he said.
“For us, diversity is strength, driving collaboration and efficiency.”
Airservices Australia Chief Executive Officer Rob Sharp said women air traffic controllers at Melbourne Air Traffic Control tower were proud to facilitate the all-female flights.
“In our leading industry role as an air traffic navigation service provider, Airservices is committed to fostering diversity and inclusion in our workplace, as well as in the wider aviation industry,” Mr Sharp said.
“International Women’s Day is a great opportunity to celebrate the talented women across our organisation, from our air traffic controllers through to our aviation rescue fire fighters and engineers, and women leaders.
“Airservices is making significant strides forward in gender parity: we now have 50 per cent women representation on our Board and 49 per cent of our air traffic control line leaders are women.”