33/TRAVEL, LEISURE & TOURISM
10.03.2017
Female Lufthansa Pilots are Taking Off Six crews consisting of only women set off from the Lufthansa Group hubs to Berlin for International Women's Day On 8 March, on International Women's Day, six crews from Lufthansa, SWISS, Austrian Airlines and Brussels consisting only of women made their morning flights from the Lufthansa Group hubs to Berlin. The jets set off from Frankfurt, Munich, Düsseldorf, Vienna, Zurich and Brussels were flown by two female pilots. "We specifically look out for potential female employees on our application channels and we provide an employee-friendly working environment that means that family and work can be reconciled; this allows us to attract more young women to supposedly typically male professions such as the pilot's job," says Dr. Bettina Volkens, Chief Officer Corporate Human Resources and Legal Affairs at Deutsche Lufthansa AG. The first two women began their scheduled service with Lufthansa in 1988. The year 2010 saw a world premiere in the airfreight industry: a Lufthansa Cargo aircraft took off with an all-female crew. These days, women in the cockpit are no longer an exception. Around six per cent of pilots at the Lufthansa Group are female and the percentage has been continuously increasing over the past years. Around 80 per cent of the cabin staff are female. Lufthansa received a blessing from the Society for the German Language for the new German word
Female Lufthansa pilots
"Kapitänin" (female form of "Kapitän" = captain) specifically to refer to the growing number of female pilots. Women play a central role not just on the
plane. Be it on the apron or in the logistics centre, more and more women are opting for more technical jobs at the Lufthansa Group – such as Christina Schultheis. She has been a ground
operations agent at Lufthansa since 2012, where she has been working in a 2-shift system since completing her training as an aviation service expert. She has about two hours to service a long-haul flight, which includes cleaning the cabin, refuelling, loading freight and luggage and boarding the passengers. Around one quarter of ground operation agents are women. "Here you can make a difference: It is my responsibility that every flight leaves safely, efficiently and on time," says Schultheis. "We are the link between passengers, crew, tower, cleaning, catering and cargo – we talk to everyone. I particularly like the diversity and responsibility that comes with this job. I love doing it. I never want to leave." In addition to the supposedly male domains, increasing the percentage of women in management is another goal of the Lufthansa Group. "We are well on our way to achieving this through the introduction of a transparent job posting process and the use of recruitment diversity criteria," says Volkens. In 2011, Lufthansa and other major German companies set themselves voluntary targets to increase the number of women in management. By 2020 the aim is to have 30 per cent more women compared with 2010.
Akwaaba Travel Market to partner Lagos State Tourism Ministry to grow MICE in Lagos canvasses the formation of a Lagos convention bureau to boost tourism business in the state Akwaaba Travel Market team paid a courtesy call to the Lagos State Ministry of Tourism, Arts and Culture as it recognises the tourism efforts of the state. The visit was led by Mr. Ikechi Uko, organiser of Akwaaba Travel Market, Accra Weizo and Port Harcourt Bantaba and the team was received by Mr. Ashimi Jamiu Adewale, the Permanent Secretary of the Ministry with his officers among whom are Mrs. Adamma Oni, Mrs. Titi Salau, Yetunde Simpson and Mr. Ganiu Lawal. Both parties shared possible positive ways to bring Lagos tourism efforts to the front burner, touched on areas that holds mutual partnership benefits and the channels that could be adopted in driving further growth in the tourism sector of the state. Speaking during the event, Uko observed that Lagos has all the indices to excel in MICE (Meetings, Incentives, Conferences and Exhibitions). "Lagos can host any event of international standard as it has centres of about 5,000sq metres, airport, hotels and nightlife," he stated. He offered to work with Lagos achieve to achieve its goals. On his part, Ashimi explained that the "The Governor, Mr. Akinwunmi Ambode, has mandated fast track of products," as the state
Akwaaba Team with officials of Lagos Tourism Ministry
is looking towards developing all the tourism attractions and sites and also to use culture to attract more visitors and tourists to the state. He was happy to receive the letter of award as the Most Active Tourism State. “Culture is a product," Uko explained. "Tourism is the
consumption of the product. Tourism people are the ones who create the business from the culture. Culture creates the product. Tourism markets the product. tourism's job is to create the business. “Culture people will do it for the sake of culture; but tourism people are
the ones who will now transform culture into business. Lagos is Africa's entertainment capital," Uko asserted. He went on to canvass the formation of a Lagos State Convention and Visitors Bureau to boost the creation of a tourism framework that will drive the marketing of the state as a destination for MICE and other tourism activities. He buttressed his points by making reference to the Dubai and South African examples as they have gone ahead and have even established offices in Nigeria, and organise regular roadshows and visits to Lagos. "We need a bureau to activate tourism business for Lagos," Uko concluded. The Permanent Secretary appreciated the visit and expressed his delight in partnering with Akwaaba. He promised that Lagos will host international visitors to Akwaaba 2017 on a tour of Lagos. And that Lagos will utilise the ideas and goodwill offered. He promised to brief the governor of the award. The Akwaaba team included Mr. Uko, Rita Ikechi-Uko, Dein Gbabo and Renn Offor. From the outcome of the meeting, going by the excitement and satisfaction that beamed on the faces of the parties, it was obvious that tourism efforts would begin to achieve needed dividents in the years to come the ideas.
Ethiopian Signs Codeshare Agreement with Air Namibia Africa’s largest airline group, Ethiopian Airlines, has concluded a codeshare agreement with Air Namibia on February 21, 2017. The codeshare agreement covers Ethiopian thrice weekly services to Windhoek and the services of both airlines beyond their respective hubs. The agreement will allow both airlines to expand their global network through the services of each airline and also facilitate the provision of competitive and convenient travel choices to their respective customers. Mr. Girma Shiferaw, Acting Vice President, Strategic Planning and Alliances said, “We are glad to partner with Air Namibia. It is my sincere belief that such strategic collaboration among African airlines is one of the necessities to see African aviation thrive and grow faster in line with the economic development of the continent. Now, customers of Air Namibia will enjoy seamless connection on Ethiopian ever expanding global network across five continents with a minimum layover in Addis Ababa; conversely, our passengers will be
Officials of Ethiopian Airlines and Air Namibia, at the signing of codeshare agreement
able to access destinations beyond Windhoek on Air Namibia flights.” Acting Managing Director, Advocate Ellaine
Priscilla Samson said, “We are very pleased with the signing of the codeshare agreement with Ethiopia Airlines, an airline which achieved
amazing accomplishments in the global arena. This will be an opportunity for the liberalization of intra-Africa air transport in furtherance of the Yamoussoukro Decision as two African carriers. In addition, this will assist Air Namibia to expand its network via the global reach and stature of Ethiopia Airlines. Hence the teaming of our two airlines is the consummate endeavor of our continent moving towards a fuller liberalisation in the aviation sector." The codeshare agreement will allow Ethiopian and Air Namibia to place their codes on each other’s flights. ET will place its code on SW flights from Windhoek to Gaborone, Luanda, Victoria Falls, and Cape town, while SW will place it’s code on ET flights between Addis Ababa and Windhoek, Beijing, Lagos, Los Angeles, and São Paulo. Ethiopian Airlines operates the youngest fleet in the continent with an average age of less than five years. The airline currently serves more than 90 global destinations across five continents with over 240 daily departures.