India's national carrier, Air India, has marked International Women's Day this year by flying dozens of international and domestic routes with an all-female crew.
"We salute their power today with a record 52 domestic and international flights propelled by all women crew," an airline statement read.
It's not the first time the airline has marked the day by flying all female crews but this year the airline said: "..seldom has a single airline scheduled so many flights operated by its women employees."
Flights departed from Delhi to all corners of the globe including San Fransisco, London, Shanghai, Paris and Chicago.
Air India flight AI302 landed just before 0800 at Sydney's Kingsford Smith airport.
"We flew 12 hours and 30 minutes non-stop from Delhi to Sydney," Captain Miranda Rashmi said after landing the Boeing 787 Dreamliner.
"We really enjoyed the experience, the weather was a little turbulent sometimes but we tried our best to make the flight as smooth as possible and cover it in the minimal time possible.
First Officer Nandhini Alagarsamy (left), Captain Miranda Rashmi, Joint General Manger (centre), Senior Captain Dugal Divya (right) Source: SBS Gujarati
Captain Rashmi described it as a special day and described what it is like to have a career as a pilot.
"A career as a pilot is very challenging. You have to balance your professional life, your family life. It requires a lot of effort and time management because we have to get adequate rest before the flight and perform at our best capacity," she said.
The all women crew of Air India AI302 at Sydney airport March 9th 2019. Source: SBS Gujarati
First Officer Nandhini Alagarsamy said it was an honour for her to be here, and paid tribute to those she has learned from.
Her advice to budding women pilots?
"It can be difficult to manage a career and family life but once you know how to strike a balance it all becomes worthwhile. Everything is achievable if you put your heart into it."
However, Air India wasn't the only airline to mark the day celebrating women.
Jet Airways, flew all-women crew on some of its flights, and Ethiopian Airlines also flew an all female crew on a flight to Oslo.
Women in aviation
According to Air India, Captain Durba Banerjee became the airline's first woman commercial pilot in 1956.
In 1985 Captain Saudamini Deshmukh commanded the first all-women crew flight on an Air India ( Indian Airlines) Fokker friendship F-27 on the Calcutta-Silchar route, also commanding the first Boeing all-women crew flight on September 1989 on the Mumbai-Goa sector.
And in 1990 Captain Nivedita Bhasin - at 26 - became the youngest pilot in civil aviation history to command a jet aircraft.
Share
