United Airlines Flies 787 Dreamliner With All-female Crew to World's Largest Airshow
CHICAGO, July 24, 2019 /3BL Media/ -- Today, United flew a Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner crewed exclusively by women to the largest airshow in the world, EAA AirVenture in Oshkosh, WI, to symbolize the airline's commitment to supporting women in aviation. Joining the pilots and flight attendants onboard this historic flight were nearly 100 other women representing a variety of United's workgroups such as Airport Operations, Inflight Services, Flight Operations, Technical Operations, Network Operations and more.
"Women are in critical leadership roles across United and what better way to demonstrate our commitment to women in aviation than arriving with more than 100-strong at the largest airshow in the world," said Linda Jojo, executive vice president of technology and chief digital officer. "We are proud of our strong legacy of supporting women in this field, but we are also excited to be a part of shaping the future of aviation so that it includes even more women."
Upon arrival in Oshkosh, United female crew members and leadership met with EAA GirlVenture campers, approximately 70 female high school students interested in aviation, to discuss pursuing careers in the field and to tour the aircraft. The airline's Chief System Pilot Bebe O'Neil later announced an additional scholarship for aspiring female aviators at the Women in Aviation Luncheon. United has supported the Women in Aviation International Conference for more than a quarter of a century and annually provides scholarships to women pursuing careers as pilots.
Today's initiative demonstrates United's longstanding commitment to supporting women in aviation such as employing the most female pilots of any major airline and as the first and only commercial airline to sponsor an all-female technicians team in the international aerospace skills competition. In 2018, United held Girls in Aviation Day events in a record number of 12 locations around the world, and has plans to add even more locations this coming fall.
Every customer. Every flight. Every day.
In 2019, United is focusing more than ever on its commitment to its customers, looking at every aspect of its business to ensure that the carrier keeps customers' best interests at the heart of its service. In addition to today's announcement, United recently announced that luxury skincare line Sunday Riley will make products exclusively for United customers to experience in amenity kits, released a re-imagined version of the most downloaded app in the airline industry, introduced ConnectionSaver, a new tool dedicated to improving the experience for customers connecting from one United flight to the next and made DIRECTV free for every passenger on 211 aircraft, offering more than 100 channels on seat back monitors on more than 30,000 seats.
About United
United's shared purpose is "Connecting People. Uniting the World." We are more focused than ever on our commitment to customers through a series of innovations and improvements designed to help build a great experience: Every customer. Every flight. Every day. Together, United Airlines and United Express operate approximately 4,900 flights a day to 356 airports across five continents. In 2018, United and United Express operated more than 1.7 million flights carrying more than 158 million customers. United is proud to have the world's most comprehensive route network, including U.S. mainland hubs in Chicago, Denver, Houston, Los Angeles, New York/Newark, San Francisco and Washington, D.C. United operates 783 mainline aircraft and the airline's United Express carriers operate 561 regional aircraft. United is a founding member of Star Alliance, which provides service to 193 countries via 28 member airlines. For more information, visit united.com, follow @United on Twitter and Instagram or connect on Facebook. The common stock of United's parent, United Airlines Holdings, Inc., is traded on the Nasdaq under the symbol "UAL".
