There are responsibilities that are traditionally given to men and most often when women dared to engage in such activities men spook at them and sometimes, men feel threatened. Piloting aircraft is one of such responsibilities.
While it could be said that women over the years have broken the ice as successful pilots and aeronautical engineers in advanced societies, not many men feel at ease when they learn that the pilot that has taken them to the skies is a woman, especially in our society.
But despite the advancement made by women so far in aviation, it is not every day that that passengers are flown by all female crew. In fact, it is a rarity in our part of the world. But on Thursday Air Peace reached another milestone by successfully organizing all female-crew, from the cockpit to the cabin in an exciting flight from Lagos to Abuja and to Owerri.
In a chauvinistic society, it was not surprising to see apprehensive male passengers whose anxiety ebbed when the perceived the deftness and dexterity exhibited by the pilot in command and her flight officer counterparts.
Air Peace also made history as the first indigenous airline in Nigeria that operated an all indigenous female crew with a high performance aircraft Boeing 737-300.
While Arik and Aero Contractors have in the past operated an all-female flight, however, this was done with foreign pilots and a lower capacity aircraft, such as the CRJ and Dash 8 aircraft, respectively.
The arena was changed with Air Peace giving command to Sinmisola Ajibola, who made history as the airline’s first female captain.
The female crew took full charge of the carrier’s four-sector flights on the Lagos-Abuja, Abuja-Owerri, Owerri-Abuja and Abuja-Lagos routes.
Sinmisola, who was assisted in the cockpit by Senior First Officer Quincy Owen told BDSunday that she had flown for seven years and it has been an amazing experience especially succeeding in a profession that has been dominated by men, adding that she is glad that most people are beginning to embrace having women as captains.
On her growing up, she disclosed that it wasn’t too hard for her to follow her dream of becoming a pilot since her dad is also a pilot. “Growing up with my dad, I saw the job every day and I picked interest in it. It was easy to follow my dreams with him. I trained in a school in Florida, USA and it was good to see things in a different perspective.
“Our schedule is such that when you are working, you are working and when you are off, you are off. I actually have a lot of time to do other things. The girl child should not be discouraged but continue to follow their dreams,” she said.
Speaking at a brief ceremony in Abuja, Hadi Sirika, the Minister of State for Aviation, commended Air Peace for joining the league of airlines that had operated flights with an all- female cockpit, cabin crew members, engineers and flight dispatchers.
Sirika who was represented by Talba Alkali, Director, Safety and Technical Policy, Ministry of Transportation, said the feat had shown that the airline was gender friendly.
According to Alkali, this is the first time a Nigerian airline is carrying out an all-female flight with a high capacity aircraft, adding that lower capacity aircraft were used by both Arik Air and Aero Contractors in previous occasions.
“Air Peace has made a tremendous impact on the industry and we as regulators and the ministry will continue to create an enabling environment for the airline and other domestic airlines to thrive.
“Today’s event is yet another testament of the safety of our airspace and we will continue to work with the airlines to make it safer,’’ he said.
Also speaking, Allen Onyema, the Chairman of Air Peace, said over 85 per cent of key positions in the airline are held by women, who had demonstrated that they had the capacity to deliver.
He further disclosed that the airline’s chief operating officer, the Chief of Administration and Finance, Vice chairman, Head of Maintenance, Training coordinator, Head of Port Harcourt Station, Head, Abuja station; Head, Enugu Station; Cabin Services manager, Human resources manager, Business Development Manager, Customer Services manager, Head of Legal and Head of Engineering maintenance planning are all women.
Onyema said the airline had employed about 2,000 workers since it began operations over three years ago, stressing that about 1,500 of the employees were women.
“Air Peace is an airline run by women. We are very proud of giving women opportunities to excel because we believe that there is nothing that men can do that women cannot do.
“We want to encourage our female children that they should aspire to be whatever they want to be by emulating what our female flight and cabin crew members have done today,’’ he said.
The Air Peace boss commended the President Muhammadu Buhari-led administration for the support given to domestic airlines, especially the recent removal of the Value Added Tax on transportation and waivers on the importation of aircraft spares.
“We call on government to continue supporting the indigenous airlines and give us more priority. The jobs Air Peace has provided in three and half years, none of the legacy airlines flying in Nigeria have provided in one year.
“We thank the government for giving Air Peace all the international destinations they gave us to fly to represent this country as their flag carrier in China, America, India, United Arab Emirates, United Kingdom and South Africa,” Onyema added.
