The Airport Council International’s world director has criticised the gender gap that persists in aviation in a strongly-worded speech.
Talking at the Airport Experience Conference in Colorado, Angela Gittens said, “The aviation industry has made slow progress in overcoming a long legacy of gender bias.”
The remarks were made at the Women Taking Flight session, which also included the chief executive of CVG Airport and chair of ACI-North America, Candace McGraw.
Gittens said, “While there are pockets of success in sectors of the aviation industry, the stark fact is that only 3 per cent of CEOs in the aviation industry are women, compared with 6.5 per cent of Fortune 500 CEOs.
“In addition, the aviation industry as whole has a much smaller group of non-CEO female executives ready to move up the ranks.”
With the forecast that air service demand will double by 2037, and reach 19.7 billion by 2040 based on a projected growth rate of 3.7 per cent per annum, the airport industry will require a large, diverse and skilled talent pool from which to draw.
“ACI, along with others in our aviation industry, understands that we cannot ignore half of the world’s population and expect to fill our workforce demand,” Gittens said.
“Not only do we need to attract more women into the business, but we also need to support the professional development and generate opportunities for women to get the right jobs and to be considered for promotional openings.”
ACI World is helping to promote gender diversity within the airport industry, not least in North America.
“I am very proud that we have an agreement with the International Aviation Women’s Association to work collaboratively on education, training and job opportunities,” Gittens added.
ACI is the trade association of the world’s airports, founded in 1991 with the objective of fostering co-operation among its member airports and other partners in world aviation, including the International Civil Aviation Organization, the International Air Transport Association and the Civil Air Navigation Services Organization.
