Malaysia Airlines Joins IATA’s 25by2025 to Boost Gender Balance in Aviation Industry

KLIA, 17 February 2021: Malaysia Airlines has joined hands with the International Air Transport Association (IATA) to champion gender balance and create further career opportunities for women in the aviation industry through the 25by2025 initiative.

25by2025 is a voluntary initiative for all aviation stakeholders to strengthen and improve female representation in the industry by 25%, or up to a minimum of 25% by 2025. To date, 57 signatories worldwide have committed to the initiative.

25by2025 will be the aviation industry’s platform to share best practices and monitor industry metrics annually to accelerate the aviation industry’s push to create a gender-balanced workplace. By the year 2025, IATA wishes to increase the number of women in top senior positions within the industry, participating in IATA events, panels and conferences and those appointed to IATA’s governance roles up to a minimum of 25%, with an eye on gender-based parity in the long run for the industry.

As part of Malaysia Airlines’ long-term vision of the future, the airline seeks to use the 25by2025 initiative as an impetus to further create a positive, encouraging and rewarding work experience for all staff. It is committed to increasing representation of women in the workforce in underrepresented roles, such as engineers and pilots. Additionally, female staff and new candidates will be given more opportunities when applying for senior management roles across the airline.

Group Chief Executive Officer of Malaysia Aviation Group, Izham Ismail commented, “Malaysia Airlines and all sister companies under the Malaysia Aviation Group celebrate diversity and drive equality in gender, race, religion and age at all times. We also uphold meritocracy to ensure every woman and man have equal opportunity to advance in their career on the merit of their abilities. To achieve this, we must consciously avoid stereotyping a job to a particular gender, which tends to be a norm in a male-dominated industry. We strongly believe that talented female employees should be given an equal chance to explore new job opportunities and leave their lasting impacts.

I am hopeful that by committing to these goals, the diversity we create can spur further innovation and growth for the airline and industry at large, making the future for us all that much brighter. I look forward to working closely with IATA on this to help our women soar ever higher.”

“I am delighted to welcome Malaysia Airlines to the 25by2025 initiative. Gender balance and diversity contribute to the success of an organization. By joining 25by2025, Malaysia Airlines is also signaling its commitment to advancing the role of women in the airline industry. Seven airlines in the Asia Pacific region are participating in 25by2025. I encourage more airlines in the region to join this important initiative,” said Conrad Clifford, IATA’s Regional Vice President for Asia Pacific.

To find out more about IATA’s 25by2025 initiative, visit https://www.iata.org/en/policy/future-of-airlines-2035/25-by-2025/.