On Ground And In Air: India's First All-Women Haj Flight Makes History

On Thursday, June 8, Air India completed its first all-women Haj flight. The special flight had 145 women pilgrims on board, an all-female crew in the cockpit and cabin, and women handling ground operations.

The all-women Haj flight departed from Kozhikode, Kerala at 6:45 pm and landed in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia at 10:45 pm.

Air India shared images of the all-women flight crew and passengers at the airport.

Suggested Reading: Air India’s All Women Cockpit Crew Makes History: Completes Longest Non-Stop Flight By An Indian Airline

All-Women Haj Flight

The Air Indian Express flight IX 3025 had Captain Kanika Mehra and First Officer Garima Passi piloting the flight. They were assisted in the cabin by Sushma Sharma, Bijitha M B, Sreelakshmi, and Subhangi Biswas.

The female crew carried out the safety and ground operations before the flight took off and handled the flight dispatch and aircraft maintenance.

As per Air India, women constitute over 40 percent of the airline's workforce, and 15 percent of the 1,825 pilots are women, making it the airline with the highest number of female pilots. India also has the highest percent of female pilots in the world at 12.4 percent.

All-Female Cockpit

Earlier, the airline made history with its first non-stop flight. The 2021 flight from San Francisco to Bengaluru was flown by four women pilots and was the longest non-stop flight by an Indian airline. The all-women cockpit crew consisted of Captain Zoya Agarwal, Captain Papagari Thanmai, Captain Shivani Manhas, and Captain Akansha Sonaware.

Captain Manhas revealed that the flight almost took 17 hours and Captain Agarwal revealed that the route had saved 10 tonnes of fuel.

In 2020, Captain Zoya Agarwal volunteered to lead rescue operations during the COVID-19 pandemic and co-piloted the first rescue flight by Air India. The captain also made history when she piloted the airline's first Boeing 777 aircraft over the Hindu Kush mountain range.

Captain Zoya Agarwal's accomplishments made her the first Indian woman to be accepted into the US Aviation Museum. Agarwal is also the only living person to be honoured by the SFO Aviation Museum.

Feature Image Credit: ANI