New Delhi, March 7 (IANS) National-carrier Air India will operate eight flights with an all-women's crew on the International Women's Day Tuesday, the civil aviation ministry said.
"Air India has organised flights with all-women crew together with women dispatchers, women load and trim staff, women engineers, women staff at check-in counters, women doctor for crew breathalyser test, women staff for security checks and women conducting safety audit," a ministry statement said Monday.
According to the statement, the flag-carrier will also have a non-stop flight from New Delhi to Toronto operated by women commanders Rashmi Miranda and Sunita Narula with first officers Varsha Sheoran and Nidhi Suri. The flight would be despatched by Rashmi Verma.
Air India has been operating all-women's crew flight from November 1985, when Saudamini Deshmukh and Nivedita Bhasin operated a Fokker aircraft flight from Kolkata to Silchar, followed by a jet flight from Mumbai to Goa in 1989.
Air India had organised an all-women crew's flight on a Boeing 777-200LR plane for a non-stop flight between Mumbai and New York on March 8, 2010, while the flag-carrier also operated a record 22 all-women's crew flights across domestic and international networks.
Meanwhile, as part of the celebrations for the Women's Day and aviation centenary year, Civil Aviation Minister Vayalar Ravi and Information and Broadcasting Minister Ambika Soni would facilitate women pilots and entrepreneurs in the field of aviation.
Currently, the national carrier has around 400 women pilots out of a total 1,200 pilots.