Airlines all over the world are celebrating International Women’s Day with all-women crew flights, Air India along with Air India Express and AirAsia India have been operating about 90 scheduled international and domestic all-women crew special flights since March 1, 2023. The number also signifies the 90th Anniversary of JRD Tata's first commercial flight.
In addition to the cockpit and cabin crew, most of these flights are served by women dispatchers, safety and quality auditors, loaders, engineers, and security.
Of these 90 plus flights, Air India is flying 40 flights across domestic and international locations, Air India Express is operating 10 all-international flights to the Gulf route, and AirAsia India is operating over 40 flights within India.
Interestingly, Air India boasts of having largest numbers of female pilots globally. Of the 1,825 Air India pilots, 275 are women, while India has around 12.4% of female pilots across all airlines marking India as the country with the most female pilots in the world.
Campbell Wilson, CEO and managing director, Air India, commented: “India has the largest number of commercial women pilots in the world and with more Indian women pursuing careers in aviation, we are achieving gender equality in the workforce. We are proud of the women workforce with us at Air India today, and we thank each of them for sending out a powerful message that women can excel in any field.”
Air India is not new to operating all-women crew flights and has been doing so for four decades now to various international and domestic operations. It also operated the world's first all-women crew flight across the globe from Delhi to San Francisco, besides flying a similar flight charting the polar route.
Airlines across the world are encouraging more women to join the workforce. Recently, Iberia announced that it is targeting 40% women in management positions by 2025. Oman Air promoted its first female captain at a ceremony at its headquarters in Muscat.