Ethiopian Airlines operates first flight with all-female crew

Ethiopian Airlines made history last week by sending an all-female flight crew from the capital city of Addis Ababa to Bangkok, Thailand, as the company reiterated its commitment to women’s empowerment.

Every role on the plane was filled by a woman, from the pilots, to the cabin crew and even the flight dispatchers on the ground.

Chief executive officer Tewolde GebreMariam said: “It is a great honor for us to have competent women aviation professionals at Ethiopian in every aspect of the aviation field, which portrays Ethiopian as a gender responsive organisation that strives to pursue its underlying stance of being an equal opportunity employer.

“Above all, this is an ample opportunity to inspire young African female students to believe in their dreams and embark to fill the skill gap for aviation professionals.”

Around a third of Ethiopian’s employees are women, but very few of them are pilots or technicians as those roles remain predominantly male.

Earlier this month, two female Air Zimbabwe pilots were the first all-female flight deck crew on the airline’s Boeing 737 from Harare to Victoria Falls.