This achievement is part of a push to encourage African women to consider pursuing careers in aviation.
Ethiopian Airlines operated its first ever domestic flight from Addis Ababa to Lagos by an all-female crew on December 16, 2017.
From pilots to cabin crew, check-in staff to flight dispatchers on the ground, all crew members were ladies. This achievement is part of a push to encourage African women to consider pursuing careers in aviation, an industry that is currently dominated by men.
It’s not the first time the airline has intentionally used an all-female crew – in 2015 it did the same on an international flight to Bangkok, Thailand.
An Ethiopian Airlines spokesperson said, “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. Women are the continent’s greatest untapped resources, and hereby fully dedicated to ensuring the increased number of women in decision-making positions on top of key operational areas by consistently grooming and mentoring successor female employees for top managerial, technical and operational positions.”
Around a third of Ethiopian Airlines employees are women; however, they are more often flight attendants and check-in staff rather than pilots and technicians.