Passion Air makes first all-female crew flight

Passion Air, a local airline company, made history by flying with an all-female crew in Ghana.

The Accra-Tamale flight was successful on Saturday, February 20, 2021.
The firm said Flight OP 178 was “entirely ‘womanned’ by women from the flight deck to the cabin.”

In a statement, Passion Air said it hopes “this historic moment empowers and inspires women all over the world”.

Commenting on the feat, the Pilot-In-Command, Captain Eva Gichuru, said, “Whatever men can do, women can do and even better when given equal opportunities”.

The crew members were Judith Amoasi (Cabin Crew Lead), Captain Eva Gichuru, First Officer Shelia Njonjo and Judith Boachie.

This is significant because women are less represented in the aviation sector, with female pilots, for example, falling between 3-5% worldwide.

Even though women are estimated to comprise up to 50% of personnel worldwide, they are relegated to cabin and ground crew.

The figure becomes lesser for senior positions with IATA estimating just 5% of airline CEOs being women.

All-female flight in Africa

Passion Air’s milestone comes four years after international airliner, Ethiopian Airlines, did the same for the first time in Africa.

In 2017, the flight from Addis Ababa to Murtala Muhammed International Airport in Lagos, Nigeria was carried out by Captain Amsale Gualu who piloted the plane.
The help of women cabin crew, check-in attendants, flight dispatchers and ground staff.

Two years earlier, Air Zimbabwe flew an all-female domestic flight, making pilots Chipo Matimba and Elizabeth Petros the first female pilots to fly internally on Air Zimbabwe. The women took to social media: “History has been made! First all-female flight deck crew on the Air Zimbabwe Boeing 737!” and “Two CAPTAINS!! #FLYBABES. #PaintingTheSkyPink!”.

Passion Air is a domestic airline of Ghana with its head office in Accra, Ghana, and its main hub at Kotoka International Airport in Accra.

It is the second-largest airline in Ghana, having transported 213,022 passengers in 2019.

Passion Air was founded as DAC International Airlines (Ghana) by notable local businessman Edward Annan, in partnership with DAC Aviation of Kenya.

The company was founded in 2017 and achieved its Air Operator Certificate in December that year.

Flight operations commenced under the Passion Air brand in August 2018 using a single Bombardier Dash 8 Q400.