<p>There are many schemes to encourage women to consider a career in the airline industry, from the likes of easyJet’s Amy Johnson Flying Initiative – begun in 2015, setting the target for 20% of its new entrant pilots to be female by 2020 – to the Dreams Soar scholarship set up for female students on the Flight Training Program at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University.</p>
<p><img alt="Air Vanuatu" src="/getasset/3b69d610-1286-4a49-80d8-24574c830210/" /></p>
<p>Both these were for roles in the cockpit, but in September 2019, the largest airline association, IATA (International Air Transport Association), decided to push for increased numbers of women in management and challenged all airlines to join its “25by2025” campaign. Put simply, airlines are being asked to achieve 25% female representation across their management teams by 2025.</p>
<p>As IATA notes on its website, “Improving gender diversity throughout the industry is needed not just because it is ‘the right thing to do’, but it also makes business sense.” The Association’s reasoning is built on a McKinsey report <em>Women Matter</em>, which states, “Companies where women are most strongly represented at board or top-management level are also the companies that perform best.”</p>
<p>Among the 59 airlines which had publicly signed up to the campaign by mid-December 2019, one of the first to step forward was Air Vanuatu. “We identified the very real need to publicly validate our commitment to gender diversity and saw the IATA challenge as an opportunity that would not only benefit women in aviation in Vanuatu, but benefit us as an airline as well,” remarked the carrier’s chief executive officer, Derek Nice.</p>
<p>Even better news has come this week with Nice reporting the airline’s progress under the initiative. “I am pleased to announce that Air Vanuatu has already surpassed IATA’s target, with 36% of our management positions being held by women. This is a significant achievement, given the average for all IATA members in the Asia-Pacific region is just 7%,” he declared.</p>
<p>The CEO went on to explain the key areas and departments at the airline, where women hold management roles, led by company director, Adela Issachar Aru. Within the ground operations team, the manager of the operations control centre and the cargo manager are both women as are the CFO and the manager of revenue accounting in the Finance Department.</p>
<p>Flight Operations boasts women as cabin crew training manager, cabin crew manager, a DHC Twin Otter Captain, a Boeing 737 First Officer and an ATR First Officer. Engineering is less well represented with just two women engineers.</p>
<p>The Commercial Department’s manager and of its sales executives in the Melbourne office are women. Similarly a woman manages the catering department, while among the list of airport managers, there is a contingent of three women.</p>
<p>Finally, with the Human Resources & Administration team, the executive secretary to the CEO, the training and development manager and the general manager for human resources are all women.</p>
<p>Nice noted that Air Vanuatu is one of only three airlines in the South Pacific to accept the IATA challenge, alongside Qantas and Air New Zealand – the latter’s former CEO Christopher Luxon having been the one to challenge the industry to do more to advance gender diversity – and is the only national carrier from among the South Pacific Island States adopting 25by2025.</p>
<p>“Our focus on gender diversity first began with our commitment to the National Sustainable Development Plan, commonly known as The People’s Plan, which calls for equitable, sustainable growth that creates jobs and income earning opportunities accessible to all people in rural and urban areas throughout Vanuatu,” Nice commented. “The majority of our employees are women, and they play key roles in every department and at every level in our airline. We’re stronger for their leadership, dedication and commitment.”</p>
<p>While Air Vanuatu may not have the size of behemoths such as Delta and Lufthansa, it can now be held up as an example for women management candidates at any airline seeking to achieve that 25by2025.</p>
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<p><img alt="Air Vanuatu" src="/getasset/3b69d610-1286-4a49-80d8-24574c830210/" /></p>
<p>Both these were for roles in the cockpit, but in September 2019, the largest airline association, IATA (International Air Transport Association), decided to push for increased numbers of women in management and challenged all airlines to join its “25by2025” campaign. Put simply, airlines are being asked to achieve 25% female representation across their management teams by 2025.</p>
<p>As IATA notes on its website, “Improving gender diversity throughout the industry is needed not just because it is ‘the right thing to do’, but it also makes business sense.” The Association’s reasoning is built on a McKinsey report <em>Women Matter</em>, which states, “Companies where women are most strongly represented at board or top-management level are also the companies that perform best.”</p>
<p>Among the 59 airlines which had publicly signed up to the campaign by mid-December 2019, one of the first to step forward was Air Vanuatu. “We identified the very real need to publicly validate our commitment to gender diversity and saw the IATA challenge as an opportunity that would not only benefit women in aviation in Vanuatu, but benefit us as an airline as well,” remarked the carrier’s chief executive officer, Derek Nice.</p>
<p>Even better news has come this week with Nice reporting the airline’s progress under the initiative. “I am pleased to announce that Air Vanuatu has already surpassed IATA’s target, with 36% of our management positions being held by women. This is a significant achievement, given the average for all IATA members in the Asia-Pacific region is just 7%,” he declared.</p>
<p>The CEO went on to explain the key areas and departments at the airline, where women hold management roles, led by company director, Adela Issachar Aru. Within the ground operations team, the manager of the operations control centre and the cargo manager are both women as are the CFO and the manager of revenue accounting in the Finance Department.</p>
<p>Flight Operations boasts women as cabin crew training manager, cabin crew manager, a DHC Twin Otter Captain, a Boeing 737 First Officer and an ATR First Officer. Engineering is less well represented with just two women engineers.</p>
<p>The Commercial Department’s manager and of its sales executives in the Melbourne office are women. Similarly a woman manages the catering department, while among the list of airport managers, there is a contingent of three women.</p>
<p>Finally, with the Human Resources & Administration team, the executive secretary to the CEO, the training and development manager and the general manager for human resources are all women.</p>
<p>Nice noted that Air Vanuatu is one of only three airlines in the South Pacific to accept the IATA challenge, alongside Qantas and Air New Zealand – the latter’s former CEO Christopher Luxon having been the one to challenge the industry to do more to advance gender diversity – and is the only national carrier from among the South Pacific Island States adopting 25by2025.</p>
<p>“Our focus on gender diversity first began with our commitment to the National Sustainable Development Plan, commonly known as The People’s Plan, which calls for equitable, sustainable growth that creates jobs and income earning opportunities accessible to all people in rural and urban areas throughout Vanuatu,” Nice commented. “The majority of our employees are women, and they play key roles in every department and at every level in our airline. We’re stronger for their leadership, dedication and commitment.”</p>
<p>While Air Vanuatu may not have the size of behemoths such as Delta and Lufthansa, it can now be held up as an example for women management candidates at any airline seeking to achieve that 25by2025.</p>
<hr />
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