Aviator steadily closing the gender gap in ground services

Women are under-represented in many areas of aviation, and ground services are no exception. Aviator Airport Alliance, a leading full-range provider of aviation services across 15 airports in the Nordics, is working to steadily close the gender gap. At the company’s station in Gothenburg, Sweden, women already comprise nearly a quarter of staff in the ramp department.

A male-dominated sector, aviation has a poor gender balance across the field. According to ICAO’s latest global survey on the status of licensed aviation personnel by gender, the number of women holding such positions was 4.9% in 2021. In ground services, the picture is similar. For instance, Europe’s biggest airline group, Ryanair, reports that 10% of its ground support was female in 2023.

Aviator is looking to address this disparity. At the company’s station at Gothenburg Landvetter airport, for instance, 22% of employees in the ramp section are women.

“Women are not only working in the frontline, but also in leadership positions as Coordinators, Loading Supervisors and Department Supervisors,” says Johannes Johansson, Manager Airside Operations at Aviator’s Gothenburg station. “Working in the industry and ramp handling since 2008, I see that a lot more women are interested in these careers today than before, which is very promising.”

For the last several years, the share of women Aviator has been hiring for ground handling positions in Gothenburg has been rising steadily. In 2020, only 8% of newcoming employees were women. Since then, this percentage has increased more than fourfold, reaching 33% last year.

According to Johansson, more women pursuing aviation careers has had a positive impact not only on the breadth of the talent pool, but also on team dynamics:

“We are happy that we have been able to reduce the gap between men and women, which for us has given us a better atmosphere in the team. We now not only have a better mix in terms of gender diversity, but also a healthy balance when it comes to background and age. The difference between our youngest colleague and oldest is 51 years!”

Aviator Airport Alliance is part of Avia Solutions Group, the world’s largest ACMI (aircraft, crew, maintenance, and insurance) provider, operating a fleet of 212 passenger and cargo aircraft worldwide. The group also provides various aviation services such as MRO, pilots and crew training, ground handling, and other interconnected solutions.