Hi Fly has attended IATA ‘Wings of Change’ event in Berlin, Germany, this week, where Hi Fly CFO Sérgio Bagorro joined airline CEOs, government authorities, industry and non-industry experts and key decision-makers to discuss the future of the industry and to sign the IATA’s 25by2025 pledge.
Around 500 delegates attended the Wings of Change conference, with discussions, debates, meetings, partnerships, agreements, and launches making for a busy and successful event. The two-day conference, hosted this time by Lufthansa, featured a packed agenda comprising debates and discussions mostly around competitiveness, safety, security, innovation, and sustainability, as well as a series of industry meetings and signings.
The 25by2025 pledge, which was signed by Hi Fly in Berlin as part of the conference, is a voluntary campaign for IATA member airlines to improve female representation in the industry by 25%, or up to a minimum of 25% by 2025. It is intended to make the aviation industry more gender-balanced.
The conference opened with Carsten Spohr, Lufthansa Group Chairman of the Executive Board sharing his strategic vision for aviation, both worldwide and in Europe. Much of the rest of the first morning was dedicated to industry sustainability with talks on the new ‘European Commission’s vision for a Sustainable Air Transport Industry’, and a second address entitled ‘Sustainable Growth, the only way forward’.
Sustainability played a big part throughout the event with further talks on electric engines, reduction of CO2 emissions, sustainable aviation fuels from non-crop areas, noise reduction and recycling. Hi Fly has long been an industry leader on sustainability, its ‘plastic-free’ trial flights last Christmas and New Year, proving that the substitution of single-use plastic on long-haul passenger flights was possible. Hi Fly’s commitment to fly its entire airline ‘plastic-free’ by the end of December 2019, is also an industry first.
Speaking at the time of the test flights, Hi Fly President Paulo Mirpuri said: “Setting a milestone for airlines in the use of Single-Use-Plastic has been extremely important for Hi Fly. We don’t just want to become a truly sustainable business, but we also want to set and lead by example.Hi Fly was the first airline to cement this commitment and we are very proud of this achievement”.
Speaking before the Berlin IATA event, Hi Fly CFO Sérgio Bagorro said: “Hi Fly would like to take a minute to say how happy we are to support the ’25 by 2025’ initiative. I can confirm we are already well ahead of the curve on that, and many other ventures. When it comes to sustainability, we have a long history of trying to lead from the front. We have a long and positive story in this field and our corporate ethos has always been to share information and lead by example where we can.
The International Air Transport Association (IATA) is the trade association for the world’s airlines. It represents some 290 airlines or 82% of total air traffic. It supports many areas of aviation activity and helps formulate industry policy on critical aviation issues.
The airlines represented at the Wings of Change Europe event:
Aegean Airlines, airBaltic, Air Corsica, Air Dolomiti, Air France, Atlantic Airways, Austrian Airlines, Blue Air, Brussels Airlines, Bulgarian Air, Edelweiss Air, Euro Atlantic Airways, Eurowings, Finnair, Flybe, Georgian Airlines, Hann Air, Hi Fly, Icelandair, Lufthansa Cargo, Lufthansa Cityline, Lufthansa, Norwegian, Pegasus Airlines, Scandinavian Airlines, Somon Air, Swiss International Airlines and Ukraine International Airlines.
30 organizations made the commitment today, including Hi Fly. By committing to this pledge, these airlines agree to:
- Report annually on key diversity metrics
- Increase the number of women in senior positions and under-represented areas*
- Increase female nominations from their airlines for IATA governance roles to a minimum of 25%
- Work with IATA to increase the number of women appointed to IATA governance roles to a minimum of 25%
*By 25%, or up to a minimum of 25% by 2025
IATA will support the airlines in achieving this goal through things like creating a forum for sharing best practices and working to increase the number of women in IATA’s own senior roles in line with the 25 by 2025 targets.
Photo credits: IATA
