Skift Take
Etihad captain Aisha Al Mansoori didn’t a lot break the glass ceiling as much as soared through it.
Edward Russell
Aisha Al Mansoori, the very first female pilot at Etihad Airways, is in luck. The airline company will re-introduce her favorite airplane, the superjumbo Airplane A380, next summer as travel need continues to rebound.
“It is among the most incredible aviation items out there,” Al Mansoori stated of the A380 at the Skift Global Online Forum East in Dubai on Wednesday. She first flew the Airbus superjumbo in 2016. So it is Al Mansoori’s all the best that Etihad is preparing to return 4 A380s to the skies in about 6 months.
Etihad parked its 10 A380s in 2020 when the coronavirus pandemic decimated worldwide air travel. At the time, it was unclear whether the airplane that can seat more than 500 guests on 2 levels would ever return. However, as international travel need has actually surged back, airlines have actually transferred to reactivate the airplane, from Lufthansa to Qantas Airways and Singapore Airlines.
Etihad will reintroduce its A380s on flights in between Abu Dhabi and London Heathrow in order to “please the need,” CEO Antonoaldo Neves stated earlier in December. No word yet if Al Mansoori, who was updated to captain in August, will helm the superjumbos.
The promo to captain was the current step in Al Mansoori’s 15-year profession with Etihad that started as its first female pilot cadet in 2007. And the firsts kept coming for her, from second officer to first officer, and from narrowbody to widebody aircraft pilot– Al Mansoori’s career literally took off. Her increase to captain is exceptional in more methods than one, consisting of as a female in the male-dominated aviation world, and a female pilot in a nation and region not understood for women’s rights.
“There’s a significant amount of support within the business, and within my household,” Al Mansoori said. It definitely did not injure that her sis is the first woman fighter pilot in the United Arab Emirates, and her bro is a helicopter pilot.
While state-owned Etihad does not disclose the demographics of its more than 8,000-people strong labor force, it has signed on to global aviation trade group IATA’s effort that 25 percent of its leadership be female by 2025. The airline has a ways to go. As of June, Etihad’s executive team consisted of just one lady: Nadia Bastaki, who is Etihad’s chief human resources, organizational development, and property management officer. That translates to 13 percent female representation among the eight senior executives noted.
IATA information from March shows that ladies represent usually less than 13 percent of all senior executive positions, except in personnels, at airline companies worldwide. In personnels, representation jumps to 40 percent. And, when it concerns the top spot, ladies comprise only 6 percent of airline CEOs.
Asked what difficulties she dealt with in becoming a pilot, Al Mansoori stated they were the very same for her when it comes to any other pilot. “The obstacles are equivalent. It’s the very same obstacle for female and male pilots. It’s the time away from the family, it’s the night flights, it’s the effort you put in, the work,” she stated.
Her advice to other ladies who wish to pursue a profession in travel is to do what you like and wish to excel in, no matter what others– or society– may recommend.
Ending up being a pilot, Al Mansoori stated, was the “best decision I ever made.”