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Trailblazing female airline pilot Deborah Lawrie has taken part in an all-female Virgin flight during International Women’s Day celebrations.
Lawrie on Friday served as first officer on board Virgin Australia flight VA313 from Melbourne to Brisbane, Virgin’s second annual all-female-operated flight for International Women’s Day, which took off as VA313 at 8:26am and landed at 9:13am (all times local).
More than 30 women, including pilots, cabin crew, ground crew, baggage handlers, air traffic controllers, and a female pushback driver and refueller, took part in the flight.
Members of the operating crew went on to speak to more than 50 female aviation students at a networking event, with Lawrie, who paved the way for female commercial pilots with her landmark High Court win over Ansett in 1979-80 and still flies for Virgin, saying she was delighted to see more women taking up careers in the sector.
“To be in the company of so many remarkable women today celebrating together is a full circle moment, and it is one I hope serves as inspiration for people from all walks of life to pursue the many diverse and rewarding careers aviation can offer,” she said.
Qantas and Jetstar also followed suit on Friday, operating three all-female flights: QF401 from Sydney to Melbourne, and the return JQ402 Sydney to Gold Coast/JQ405 Gold Coast to Sydney service. Qantas Group pilots are 93 per cent men and engineers are 96 per cent men, compared to a global figure of 96 per cent male pilots and 97 per cent male engineers.
Qantas Group chief people officer Catherine Walsh said it is “really important” for the Flying Kangaroo to add more gender diversity to operational roles.
“It’s good for our culture, means our workforce is more representative of our customer base and also means we can draw from the biggest talent pools,” she said.
“Becoming a pilot takes years of training and increasing the number of female pilots isn’t going to happen overnight. It’s also not something that generally starts after university, it starts in school. We need to encourage more girls to select STEM subjects that support a technical career.
“We’re expanding our outreach into schools to promote aviation as a career, which hopefully results in more girls choosing subjects that put them on track to join us in the cockpit or hangar in the future.”
The International Women’s Day flights come after figures released last month showed a significant gender pay gap in the air and space transport sector, almost double the average across all industries, which major airlines have attributed to a higher proportion of men in better-paid positions like pilots and engineers.
Michael Sawade
says:I really hope Virgin at least name an aeroplane after Deb. She is a true aviation pioneer and an inspiration to all.