Ethiopian Airlines to Operate All-Women Flight Crew to Celebrate International Women’s Day

“Empower woman, empower the human community. The base on which the world stands is a women.”

For many years, Ethiopia has been a good model for Africa and has seldom failed to show the continent the way when needed. Now, it appears the East African country not only leads Africa in certain areas but the world in general.

In a move that will undoubtedly make big international Airline operators like Qatar Airways, Emirates Airlines, Delta Airlines, etc. frown at their creative departments for not thinking ‘out of the box’, Ethiopian Airlines has again announced plans to operate an international flight from Addis Ababa to Stockholm-Oslo, Norway, with an all-women crew to mark International Women’s Day.

The International Women's Day is celebrated on March 8 every year. The United Nations began celebrating International Women's Day in 1975. The March 8 date was however fixed in 1977 when the United Nations General Assembly invited member states to proclaim the day as the UN Day for women's rights and world peace. International Women’s Day has been celebrated yearly since then.

The move by Africa's largest and fastest growing airline, Ethiopian Airlines to mark International Women’s Day by operating an all-female crew from Addis-Ababa to Stockholm-Oslo, Norway is a welcome development as the carrier has received commendations from around the world for its decision.

The airline made the announcement a few days ago to mark the special day, the flight from Addis-Ababa to Oslo will consist of a crew whose cockpit, airport operations, passenger control, flight deck crew, safety, catering staff, etc. will be 100 percent female.

Ethiopian Airlines operates five weekly flights to Oslo, Norway via Stockholm.

The airline also revealed that the theme of the flight is “all women functioned flight to operate from the continent of Africa to meet their counterparts in Europe to show the power of women to the world.”

One thing that has impressed many, is the consistency of the airline management because this is not the first time they have marked International Women’s Day in this special way. The airline seems to always be a step ahead of its competitors.

You will recall that that Ethiopian Airlines celebrated the 2018 International Women’s Day by operating an all-female crew on a flight from Addis Ababa to Buenos Aires, Argentina, and operated same within Africa the year before.

Speaking on the development, the Ethiopian Airlines Group CEO, Tewolde GebreMariam said:

“We are immensely honored that we have women trailblazers in every aspect of our aviation field. Women are an integral part of our success story from the start and with this dedicated flight, we honor and celebrate their indispensable contribution to our aviation Group and the broader aviation industry, our country and the continent at large.

“Although women are Africa’s greatest resource, gender inequality still persists in our continent. Therefore, we all need to ensure that women take their rightful position in all human endeavor by creating the right conditions and through all-inclusive engagement models.”

Ethiopian Airlines was founded in 1945 by Emperor Haile Selassie.

Header Image Credit: stuff.co.nz