AER Lingus bosses are calling for more women to pursue careers in the aviation industry.
As International Women’s Day approaches, the popular airline held an event at Dublin Airport to support the next generation of women in aviation in Ireland.
Some 200 career guidance counsellors and 80 aviation students attended the interactive event.
Supported by daa, the Irish Aviation Authority (IAA) and AirNav Ireland, it included a one-hour flight experience on an Aer Lingus A330 aircraft, operated by an all-female crew.
Attendees got a tour of Aer Lingus’s maintenance and engineering operations at Hangar 6 at Dublin Airport.
A careers fair promoted awareness of career opportunities in engineering, as pilots and cabin crew, in ground operations, air traffic control, and support functions such as network planning, fleet management, finance, and more.
CEO of Aer Lingus, Lynne Embleton, said: “There’s huge opportunity for more women to pursue careers in the aviation sector here in Ireland.
“Our ambition today is to bring to life for Irish career guidance counsellors the breadth of opportunities that are available in aviation.
“The career guidance counsellors can then in turn help inform the career paths of the next generation of women.
“There’s no role in aviation that is unavailable to women and it’s important we all play a part in helping to break down the barriers which have led to underrepresentation of females in many areas of the industry.
“Aviation in Ireland needs a strong pipeline of talent from a range of backgrounds to drive its future success and women will have a critical role to play in this.”
Apprentice engineer with Aer Lingus, Ellen Canny, added: “Working as an aircraft engineer wasn’t something I considered growing up but when I saw Aer Lingus was looking for applications for its apprenticeship programme, I really liked the idea that I could go to college and get on-the-job training at the same time.
“It doesn’t matter what gender you are on our team, it’s like a family, we all look out for and support each other.
“It’s a busy and challenging role but one that I really enjoy, and have great opportunities to travel.”
For more information on Aer Lingus flights and offers, visit www.aerlingus.com.
The popular airline currently has discounted flights from Ireland to Europe and from Ireland to the UK.
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