IATA leads effort to boost representation of women in aviation

The male-dominated aviation field could soon see more women in senior roles and under-represented areas.

The International Air Transport Association (IATA) is leading a voluntary initiative, called 25by2025, with the aim of increasing the number of women in senior positions and under-represented areas by 25% or up to a minimum of 25% by the end of 2025.

“We connect the world, and the world is diverse,” says Jane Hoskisson, IATA’s director of talent, learning, engagement and diversity who heads the initiative. “If airlines have diversity, it helps them create diverse products and services that match the diverse needs of their customer base.”

The initiative launched in 2019 with three signatories. The number reached 30 before the pandemic hit and has since climbed to 189, including many major airlines. IATA says it represents some 300 airlines or 82% of total air traffic.

ATPCO, a repository for airline fare filing, is one of the newest signatories, having committed to 25by2025 earlier this month. At least five organizations have signed on since then, according to IATA.

As of the end of 2022, women constitute 40% of total ATPCO staff, 27% of directors and officers and 47% of managers and senior managers.

The Dulles, Virginia-based company has promised to boost its female representation among directors and officers by 25% by 2025 and managers and senior managers to 50% by 2025.

“When you look at the percentage of women of the population, we’ve got a long way to go,” says ATPCO’s chief product and marketing officer Ellen Lee. “So it’s not mission accomplished.”

Lee calls 25by2025 an “important initiative” that builds on ongoing work at ATPCO, including a Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) Steering Council that comprises employees who volunteer to advance all forms of inclusion.

As a woman leader in the travel industry, “I haven’t been afraid to speak up,” Lee says. “I’ve been in many, many meetings where I’m the only woman in the room. And I always went into it not thinking about that to be perfectly honest, and so just thinking about, ‘If I’ve got something that needs to be said, if I’ve got a point of view that I want to share, I’m going to share it.’

“That said, women communicate differently than men do, and it can present some misunderstanding and maybe some conflicts,” Lee says. “‘Emotional’ is a tag that can get attached to women.”

Her advice to other women in the field?

“First of all, realize how you’re communicating and how it’s being received by the other side and then also trying to educate both sides. It’s an ongoing process,” she says. “Continue to move forward and put yourself out there.”

Sharing best practices

With fewer than 500 total employees, ATPCO is a small entity compared to a major airline with tens of thousands of employees.

Are 25by2025’s targets achievable for all the companies that have signed on? Hoskisson, with IATA, thinks so.

“Companies wouldn’t commit if they couldn’t make it,” she says. “And the way we’ve set it means that it is realistic, so there should be no reason why they wouldn’t make that goal because they get to define what that goal is.”

For the “under-represented” area, companies choose where in the organization to focus their attention.

“A lot of airlines are focusing on the flight deck, but it might be maintenance, it might be IT, it might be ground ops that they’re looking at,” Hoskisson says. “It might be safety and security.”

25x2025 is still accepting commitments. It is open to all airlines and aviation-related organizations, including non-IATA members. Thirty-five non-IATA members have committed.

Companies share their progress annually at the IATA World Air Transport Summit, and IATA has created a forum to share best practices. The trade association is headquartered in Montreal with executive offices in Geneva.

“The point is to bring together a community of people that are working on solving the same issue for the industry,” Hoskisson says.

'Good business sense'

JetBlue signed on to 25by2025 shortly after JetBlue CEO Robin Hayes was announced as the new chair of IATA’s board of governors in November 2020. In 2018, before the campaign launched, just 3% of airline CEOs and COOs and 8% of airline CFOs were women, he says.

“This is incredibly low and highlights how much work we need to do as an industry,” Hayes says last year in a videotaped address. “We know that we can’t close this gap alone, so we’ve encouraged our members and partners to join our 25by2025 commitment.”

The New York City-based airline calls itself an “industry leader in representation of women in C-suite roles,” pointing to women currently in roles that include president and chief operations officer, chief financial officer, chief people officer and chief technology officer. 

JetBlue has already surpassed one benchmark with more than 30% of officer and director level roles held by women. It’s working toward a goal of 40% by 2025 and says it pursues gender parity at all levels, including through gender pay reviews at the executive and director levels. 

Closing the gender gap is “not only the right thing to do, but it makes good business sense and is important in fostering the future of our industry,” Hayes says. “Companies where women are strongly represented at top leadership levels are also the ones that perform the best.

“It’s up to all of us as an industry to create this culture of inclusion. This will help us attract top talent and set up our industry’s talent pipeline for years if not decades to come.”

Correction: This story was updated to reflect that JetBlue has a woman in the role of chief people officer.