National carrier Air India has said it has operated a flight on the Kolkata-Dimapur-Kolkata sector on Monday, with an all-women cockpit and cabin crew as part of its celebration of International Women's Day.
According to a release issued by the airlines, the flight AI709, an Airbus 319, was operated by Captain Akanksha Verma and Captain Satovisa Banerjee in the cockpit, while the cabin crew comprised D Bhutia, MG Mohanraj, T Ghosh and Yatili Kath.
The flight was flagged off by Air India's General Manager, Personnel, Navneet Sidhu, along with other senior officials at the city airport — rolling out the events planned by Air India Eastern Region to commemorate the International Women's Day on 8 March, it said.
During this week, Air India has plans to organise a series of cultural and creative events to commemorate the International Women’s Day, the release added.
Air India had operated the world's first all-women crew flight from Kolkata to Silchar way back in 1985.
The national carrier claimed it had created a world record in 2017 by operating the longest-ever all women crew flight around the world on the Delhi-San Francisco-Delhi route.
In addition, the Airlines had in 2017 also said they would operate over 10 all-women crew flights in domestic routes, in celebration of International Women’s Day. The state-run airlines also consists of almost 3,800 women in a workforce comprising 27,500 people (as per 2017).
On this occasion, the incredible women of Air India operated all types of wide and narrow body aircraft in its fleet.Air India had said in an official statement
The airlines has a commendable history of its female staff leaving a lasting impact.
According to its official website, as far back as 1956, Ms Durba Banerjee was inducted as the first woman pilot of Air India, and in 1985, Captain Saudamini Deshmukh commanded the first all-women crew flight on an Air India.
(With inputs from PTI)
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