John Strickland hosted a session at WTM with Lynne Embleton, CEO, Aer Lingus; Marion Geoffroy, MD, Wizz UK and Dawn Wilson, COO, TUI Airline.
Lynne Embleton secured a degree in mathematics from Nottingham University but did not want to be an accountant. She joined British Airways, initially in operational research. It was only meant to be for two years, yet last month she marked 30 years in the industry. “I’m still learning, doing new things,” she said. Lynne moved to Aer Lingus from MD, IAG Cargo, in April 2021. An immediate achievement was leading newly-established Aer Lingus UK to launch new long-haul flights to Boston, New York and Orlando from a Manchester Airport base, helping the USA open up internationally at the tail end of the pandemic.
Marion Geoffroy joined Air France as an immigration lawyer. Her role with Wizz is her eighth in aviation. “UK aviation is dynamic, the landscape constantly changing, which makes the work extremely exciting,” she said.
Dawn Wilson started her career at Britannia Airways (now TUI) in 1989 as a cabin staff member initially to fund a gap year. Back then 99% of cabin crew were women. Today, at least 20% are men. “When I moved into management the majority were male. All were supportive, except for a female director whose team I was talent-managed into. It demonstrated the value of mentoring. Women bosses generally help encourage more women into airline roles,” agreed Lynne, “because diversity makes people more comfortable. Two years ago one in ten women were in our executive team. Now it’s three in ten.”
“We don’t have an active recruitment campaign to get more women into Wizz Air. Often they are the best for the job,” said Marion. “We’re Hungarian-owned with a wide European base – nearly 58% of our workforce is female and a lot more women pilots. (There were just two when I started).” She is proud that Wizz now offers a cabin crew to pilot training scheme.
“Women pilots tend to drop out at a certain level,” suggested Dawn, “because of the working environment. If I had to go home mid-afternoon because my child was ill, it would be easy to leave Luton Airport and go home. It’s not so easy when you're on a flight to Alicante. Flexibility is important. We build rosters to accommodate family life, offering pilots a combination of office based / flightdeck duties. Aer Lingus is also driving more family friendly policies. It’s not just a female issue,” said Lynne.
Lynne added: “Covid has shown us how important flying is. In the early part of the pandemic we moved essential goods, cargo and food, medicines. And then, people couldn't travel to see family, friends and to do business. Our industry needs to get its mojo back. Regardless of background, it’s an industry we should want to come into and there are a raft of opportunities – from aviation finance to sustainability.”
“Do we have enough women role models?” asked John. “We do – but we need to be more visible,” Lynne replied.
Dawn recalled an educational visit to TUI by some schoolchildren in Luton, a diverse community. One girl, aged around 11, sat in the first officer’s seat. “Do you want to be a pilot?” she asked. “No,” was the reply, almost disdainfully – “an engineer”. “Getting into schools is so important,” echoed Marion.
“Wizz has 90 nationalities, which makes it a great culture to work. Aviation careers can be embraced by anybody, from any background. The more it happens, the more it will become ‘normal’,” she concluded.
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