On the occasion of the International Women’s Day, all-women crews at Swissport are serving passengers at check-in and gates in Saudi Arabia and Cyprus, handling aircraft on the ramp in Australia, and de-icing airplanes in Switzerland. 

To celebrate today's International Women's Day, a dedicated all-women crew in Sydney, Australia, provided passenger and ramp services for Qantas Jetstar flights JQ402 and JQ405 departing to and arriving from Gold Coast airport (OOL). At Jeddah Airport (JED) in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, two Swissport all-women teams welcomed passengers of Jazeera Airways flight J9208 to Kuwait City (KWI), and Etihad Airways flight EY334 bound for Abu Dhabi (AUH) at the check-in counters and managed the gate process and closing of the flights.

At Larnaca (LCA) and Paphos (PFO) airports in Cyprus, all-women crews serviced ten morning flights by Arkia, British Airways, Qatar Airways, and Ryanair. At the same time in Zurich (ZRH), Switzerland, a dedicated team of women was responsible for the de-icing of some 30 aircraft before take-off, when outside temperatures made this procedure necessary to ensure the safe operation all flights taking off from Switzerland.

With these all-women teams, Swissport wants to highlight the attractive and diverse career opportunities for female professionals and inspire more women and young girls to pursue a career in the aviation industry.

"Swissport is dedicated to enhancing diversity, equity and inclusion in all its facets. We foster a culture that provides equal opportunities for all our employees to excel, advance and lead," says Ilse De Loof, Chief Legal Officer and Global Sponsor of Diversity, Equity & Inclusion at Swissport International AG.

While women make up the majority of Swissport’s staff working at its 69 airport lounges (74.1% by December 2023), in our centralized cargo offices (61.1% by December 2023) and at Swissport’s global head office (59.2%), women are still underrepresented in classic airport ground services and cargo handling units. At the end of 2023, 33.7% of Swissport's employees in airport ground services were women. In the air cargo handling units, women made up 22.7% of the overall workforce, despite the company’s equal opportunity recruiting principle.

“We are a people business and on this International Women’s Day we want to celebrate our many excellent women and encourage them to pursue their career goals”, says Christopher Rayner, Chief People Officer at Swissport International AG. “We want to support women in their careers, especially in technical areas, where they are still underrepresented. As a member of the IATA initiative 25by2025, aimed at increasing female representation in aviation, we are committed to getting many more women into management positions."