On 8 March, on International Women's Day, six crews from Lufthansa, SWISS, Austrian Airlines and Brussels consisting only of women will make their morning flights from the Lufthansa Group hubs to Berlin. Flights from Frankfurt, Munich, Düsseldorf, Vienna, Zurich and Brussels will each be flown by two 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 percent more women compared with 2010.
