Clipping women’s wings

PROMISES by the global airline industry to do more to promote gender equality veered off-course when one of its top executives suggested his chief executive role was too difficult for a woman.

The issue of gender imbalance in aviation was a hot topic among more than 200 airlines represented at the annual meeting of the International Air Transport Association (Iata) in Sydney, with the predominantly male gathering agreeing more had to be done.

Asked about the issue among Middle East airlines, and why his job as head of his country’s flag carrier couldn’t be done by a woman, outspoken Qatar Airways chief executive Akbar al-Baker gave a typically provocative answer.

“Of course it has to be led by a man because it is a very challenging position,” he said, drawing gasps from those present. It was not clear whether he was serious or trying to crack a joke.

He later said his carrier was the first in the region to have female pilots and the company had women in senior roles.

Alan Joyce, the gay chief executive of Qantas Airways who campaigned for marriage equality in Australia, said ensuring a diverse workforce in general could help to drive profits.

“If you get the best talent, the best people, the best jobs, you’re going to perform better,” he said.

“I think one of the reasons Qantas turned it around so dramatically is that we’ve embraced diversity.”

Gloria Guevara Manzo, the first female president of the World Travel and Tourism Council, said investors needed to start pushing companies to do more.

“When you have diversity, your company’s results are better,” she said.

Hong Kong’s Cathay Pacific Airways will have an all-male top management team when director of flight operations Anna Thompson, who leaves for another role in parent company Swire Group, is replaced by a male pilot.

Cathay chief executive Rupert Hogg said there were no immediate vacancies on the top team but there were women managers a level below and diversity was valued at the airline, which has staff from 75 nationalities and is a supporter of the Gay Games 2022 in Hong Kong.

“I really feel strongly we need to be inclusive in the broadest possible way,” he said.

“We need to do more around women… We are working on that at the moment.”

British Airways chief executive Willie Walsh and Aer Lingus owner, IAG, said the industry needed to attract more women and that progress had been slow.

“Aer Lingus recruited its first female pilot in 1977. It’s taken 40 years to get to 10 percent,” he said at the CAPA-Centre for Aviation summit also in Sydney. – Reuters