SEOUL 6 June 2019: The International Air Transport Association honoured trending leaders in the airline business with three awards inaugurated at its annual general meeting held in Seoul earlier this week.
Winners of the inaugural IATA Diversity & Inclusion Awards were announced in three categories.
Inspirational Role Model
Christine Ourmières-Widener, CEO, Flybe.
She introduced the highly successful FlyShe initiative which is designed to change aspirations and create opportunities for women in aviation.
High Flyer Award
Fadimatou Noutchemo Simo, founder and president, Young African Aviation Professional Association (YAAPA)
Fadimatou raised awareness of aviation as a potential career for women, particularly in those communities, which may not ordinarily be exposed to aviation. In 2014, she founded the Young African Aviation Professional Association (YAAPA) to help make this a reality.
Diversity & Inclusion Team
Air New Zealand
Air New Zealand’s efforts have been broadly recognized with the Gender Tick Accreditation, Rainbow Tick Accreditation and the Accessibility Tick Accreditation. Importantly, 80% of employees say Air New Zealand is open to and accepts differences, which is a 22% improvement over 2016.
Nominations for the awards were adjudicated by a panel of four judges; Angela Gittens, director general, Airports Council International; Gloria Guevara president and CEO, World Travel and Tourism Council; Mark Pilling, vice president publishing and conferences, FlightGlobal and Karen Walker, editor-in-chief, Air Transport World.
The IATA Diversity & Inclusion Awards are sponsored by Qatar Airways. Each winner receives a prize of USD25,000, payable to the winner in each of the categories or to their nominated charities.
The awards were presented at the conclusion of the World Air Transport Summit (WATS), which followed the 75th IATA Annual General Meeting in Seoul, Republic of Korea. The IATA AGM and WATS gathered more than 1,000 leaders of the global air transport industry.
