There’s still quite a gender gap in the airline industry, with a disproportionate number of pilots being male, and a disproportionate number of flight attendants being female. Airlines will sometimes have special celebrations with all-female crews, so here’s an interesting twist on that.
In this post:
Finnair operates flight with all-male crew
Today is (apparently) International Men’s Day. We often see airlines commemorate International Women’s Day, but I don’t recall ever seeing an airline celebrate the equivalent for men. Well, Finnair is the exception, as the airline has today operated a flight with an all-male crew. This was the case for Finnair flight AY1331, from Helsinki (HEL) to London (LHR), using an Airbus A350-900.
The crew consisted of 10 people, comprised of two pilots and eight flight attendants. So, why is this important? Finnair highlights how only around 10% of cabin crew at the airline are male, but the company hopes to see that number grow in the future.
I think this is a fun concept, and it would be nice to see a closer to 50/50 gender ratio in both the cockpit and cabin.
Diversity at airlines goes both ways
A Fly Guy’s Cabin Crew Lounge highlights how at some airlines, hiring of flight attendants is still exclusively based on gender. Now, the policies do vary significantly by airline, but perhaps an extreme example is India’s largest airline, IndiGo, which only hires female flight attendants.
What’s interesting is that while those gender restrictions exist in the cabin, roughly 14% of the carrier’s pilots are female, which is way above the global average of 7-9%. IndiGo claims to be “a global leader in diversity” because of this, and also highlights how it is addressing “the skewed gender ratio in cockpit crews,” and is “paving the way for a more diverse and inclusive aviation industry in the years to come.” That just doesn’t apply in the cabin, I guess. 😉
In fairness, I suspect part of the motivation here is that IndiGo flight attendants share hotel rooms on layovers, and that is a bit more complicated with mixed genders. Then again, it seems easy enough to just try to pair male flight attendants on trips, so it’s hardly a hurdle that can’t be overcome.
Bottom line
While we’re used to seeing airlines celebrate International Women’s Day, it’s rare to see an airline celebrating International Men’s Day. Finnair has operated an all-male flight today, intended to highlight how only 10% of flight attendants at the airline are male, and the airline wants to change that. While an unconventional initiative nowadays, I think this is still pretty cool.
What do you make of Finnair’s all-male flight?
Can't wait for the loonies to cry about the patriarchy.
Hoping for a 50/50 ratio of men and women would assume that there’s a 50/50 ratio of applicants, and unfortunately that’s not the case. Women overwhelmingly apply for FA positions more so than men.
For whatever reason, certain occupations are more attractive for men and some are more attractive for women. And that’ll probably never change.
It's nice to see some diversity in aviation!
Fantastic work by finnair.
Celebrating "National X Day" in industries/careers where "X" is underrepresented makes sense.
So "National Women's Day" celebration for pilots and "National Men's Day" celebration for FAs makes sense. Conversely "National Men's Day" for pilots and "National Women's Day" for FAs would be in poor taste.
I'm not sure this is really required given everyday is mens day lol. Genuine stupidity from Finnair.
Because men have a munch higher chance of getting murdered and serve longer prison sentences for the same crimes, or something else?
What a sad world you live in. Men and women have different life experiences - saying one is categorically worse is wild.
If you believe this you are extremely extremely extremely dumb lol
Go look up the stats, it’s not a “belief”
@Sel, D.
You know how to be correct.
Only if you can act so every time.
Pretty sure that in 99% of life situations, you'd rather be male than female, and white than black. Reality of centuries of oppression and suppression. The answer to which is not to oppress men and white people - but to suggest that things are equal is ignorant.
Also, while it's plausible that men suffer relative to women when being sentenced for crimes (would like to see actual data on that, normalized for the crimes in...
Pretty sure that in 99% of life situations, you'd rather be male than female, and white than black. Reality of centuries of oppression and suppression. The answer to which is not to oppress men and white people - but to suggest that things are equal is ignorant.
Also, while it's plausible that men suffer relative to women when being sentenced for crimes (would like to see actual data on that, normalized for the crimes in detail), you missed a couple of other scenarios. For example, any man wanting to marry Prince William and become the spouse of the future King of England was always at a massive disadvantage. How we men have suffered!
It's wild that you might genuinely believe that one is *not* categorically worse than the other.
The FA in the center of the picture does some youtube shorts with Finnair. Nice to see him included in the Finnair celebration.
What a fun and brave take, Finnair!
Finnair actually has quite a few female pilots, it is not that rare to hear a female voice from the cockpit on the PA system.
As for cabin crew, I don't really care whether it's 50/50 or something else, but for medical etc. cases, it might be nice for pax if there is at least one male and one female FA on board on every flight.
Imagine what would happen if Delta said that straight white men are only 4% of its flight attendants and they want to increase that number?
Delta operates in a very different cultural context than Finnair.
Now it's a matter of time until some hypocrites call this "misogynistic".
We live in a cruel times, being a male is now a sin.
Good job Finnair.
Happy International Men's Day.
Okay, Snowflake.
@Ralph4878
Sounds like you the problem, doesn't it?
@ Mason -- So far we've only had people complaining that other people will complain that this is misogynistic, so I think that might be in your head? ;-)
@Ben Schlappig
That's how it have worked for last ten years.
For some people suppressing male somehow equals to protecting females.
Maybe hypocrites aren't bright with aviation news, which is actually a good thing.
But the second they see this that will happen, I guarantee.
@ Mason -- I'm curious, you wake up every day and feel like being a male is a sin, and like these are cruel times? Could you provide some specific, firsthand experiences of that? Because as a white male, I can't say that I feel like such a victim of society.
@Ben Schlappig
That's what the society of "certain group of people" want the things to be.
They just think gender equality begins with suppressing males.
Because I know that, I don't feel that way.
Neither anyone should feel so, nor am I proud to be a male.
You not feeling guilty about being a male is very appropriate.
Because being a male has nothing wrong in it.
It's that some hypocrites want it to be wrong.
That’s not true - the “everyday is men’s day” falsely claims that being a man is somehow better than being a woman, and it’s the fault of men. What Mason is saying holds some weight.
I'm just gonna say it....I don't care that there is a gender gap in either airline pilots or flight attendants in either direction. I want the best pilot flying my plane and the best flight attendants there for my safey and comfort. I don't need DEI, I want a meritocracy. If that means that we have less female pilots or more female pilots great. If that means we have more male flight attendants or less...
I'm just gonna say it....I don't care that there is a gender gap in either airline pilots or flight attendants in either direction. I want the best pilot flying my plane and the best flight attendants there for my safey and comfort. I don't need DEI, I want a meritocracy. If that means that we have less female pilots or more female pilots great. If that means we have more male flight attendants or less male flight attendants great. I am proud to see that Finnair at least celebrated International Men's Day as I'm sure this picture is probably being passed around the "Patriachy is Evil" Men Hating Clubs and derided.
@ Brett -- I'm curious, what qualifications do you think make a flight attendant "the best" for your safety and comfort? I don't think anyone is suggesting that poor candidates should be hired just because of their gender.
@ben- you don’t think anyone is suggesting poor candidates should be hired because of their gender!
…Ben, you’re smarter than that. So many examples of hiring based on qualities unrelated to job performance. Hopefully you can admit that?!
@Brent - your intention here is wonderful, but do you actually think meritocracy exists when women and People of Color just do not have the same opportunities in life as white men do? Come on...as a white dude myself, it is SO OBVIOUS that we are deferred to, respected, acquiesced to, pandered to, and treated better because misogyny and racism are real things, whether that's in the USA, Europe, or anywhere else. It's intellectually dishonest...
@Brent - your intention here is wonderful, but do you actually think meritocracy exists when women and People of Color just do not have the same opportunities in life as white men do? Come on...as a white dude myself, it is SO OBVIOUS that we are deferred to, respected, acquiesced to, pandered to, and treated better because misogyny and racism are real things, whether that's in the USA, Europe, or anywhere else. It's intellectually dishonest to pretend this doesn't exist, and that it doesn't impact others' opportunities to climb up the ranks in aviation, education, or any other fields. It's hilarious that folks asking for equity and fairness equate that with "men hating." Grow a pair and admit the system is rigged for us.
If you think white men have privilege, young white women have even more privilege in some instances.
*...is equated with "men hating."
It smells like DUDE in here!
But more seriously, I'm surprised there's such a thing as International Men's Day. How do we celebrate this?
The same way we do every other day of the year?
Every day is International Mens Day
What a deja vu! I remember my first flight with an all male crew was on Republic Airlines back in the early 80s MIA-MCO. All flight attendants wore 3 piece suits. Up until then, I had only flown on European/middle eastern carriers with female flight attendants. Republic was eventually taken over by NWA and then that was merged into DL. But the shocking memory remains very vivid