Icelandair signs gender equality pledge

Reykjavík 19.11.19 - Today, Icelandair took part in the signing of a gender equality pledge proposed by the International Air Transport Association (IATA) conference in Berlin. In total, 25 airlines signed the pledge and presented their goals when it comes to equality.  

Simultaneously, Icelandair is submitting the same pledge at the Reykjavik Global Forum of Women Leaders. Icelandair is a sponsor of the forum whose objective is to promote gender equality worldwide.

Icelandair’s initiatives on gender equality

Icelandair has made considerable improvements when it comes to gender equality in recent years, for instance by increasing the number of women in management positions. Icelandair has also one of the highest ratios of female pilots in the world. 

In 2008, there were only men on the Company’s Board of Directors and within the Executive Management. Today, women represent 40% of the Board of Directors and 33% of the Executive Management. In other management positions, the ratio is even. 

When it comes to Icelandair’s staff on board our planes, the proportion of male cabin crew and female pilots was respectively 5.3% and 6.5% a decade ago. Today, the proportion of male cabin crew stands at 9% and the proportion of female pilots at 12%. However, the gender balance within aircraft maintenance roles has not changed over time and over 99% of these jobs are held by men.

In recent years, Icelandair has worked systematically towards progress on gender equality. The Company has an active gender equality program and received equal pay certification earlier this year. Icelandair also participates in an initiative with the goal of having 40% of executive positions in Icelandic companies filled by women in 2027. Additionally, Icelandair has decided to base its responsibility strategy on the UN Sustainable Development Goals. Four of the goals have been chosen as the main goals. Gender equality is one of them.

Icelandair’s gender equality goals for 2025

Icelandair has set the following goals on gender equality to be met by the year 2025:

• To ensure an equal gender balance in the management positions – never less than 40% of either gender in management positions
• To increase the number of female pilot positions by 25%
• To increase the number of male cabin crew positions by 25%
• To increase the number of female aircraft maintenance technicians by promoting the job and education to girls.

Bogi Nils Bogason, CEO:

"In recent years, Icelandair has made great progress when it comes to gender equality. We will continue to be ambitious in this domain. As an airline named after our home country, it is important we can live up to such an important value as equality is for Icelanders. There are many opportunities for improvement, for instance by reducing the impact of gender stereotypes and showing our great diverse role models that already work at Icelandair. We need to ensure the roles we offer at Icelandair are appealing and available to everyone."