The women who will be felicitated are:-

Pioneer Pilots

·                    Late Capt. Prem Mathur – First woman to obtain Commercial Pilot License.

·                    Capt. Durba Banerjee – First woman Commander of an airline.

·                    Ms. Chanda Budhabhatti – Pioneer Pilot and Founder of Indian Women Pilots’ Association.

Airlines

·                    Ms. Bhubaneshwari Gautam – First woman Aircraft Maintenance     Engineer.

·                    Capt. Aruna Kandarpa         – First woman Helicopter Pilot.

·                    Capt. Sonica Chhabra – First woman Instructor/Examiner in airlines.

·                    Ms. Harpreet A De Singh – First woman Technical Ground Instructor and First Head of Quality Management Systems of an airline.

Enterpreneurs

·                    Ms. Tulsi Mirchandani – CEO, Blue Dart.

·                    Capt. Shobha K Mani – CEO, North-East Shuttle.

DGCA

·                    Ms. Tuhinanshu Sharma – First woman ICAO auditor from DGCA.

Airports Authority of India

·                    Ms Kalpana Sethi, General Manager, (architect) AAI

·                    Ms K Hemalatha, General Manager (Finance), Chennai

·                    Ms Aryama Sanyal, Jt General Manager (ATC), Ahmedabad

·                    Ms R. Vasundara, Deputy General manager (CNS), Chennai

Cabin Crew of IC-814(Kathmandu – Kandhahar hijack flight)

·        Ms. Sapna Menon

·        Ms. RajniChandrasekhar

·        Ms. Kalpana Mazumdar

·        Ms. Tara Debnath

·        Mr. Anil Sharma

·        Mr. M.A. Satish

            As part of the event presentations would be delivered on the occasion highlighting the contribution being made by women in all fields of civil aviation as well as the new opportunities that are emerging in the sector.

In continuation with the historic tradition of planning ALL WOMEN FLIGHTS on International Women’s Day, and encouraging women efforts in all walks of life, Air India has also 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 LOSA safety audit. 

The following flights are being planned on the Women's Day i.e. 8th March 2011.

 The non-stop flight AI-187 on Delhi- Toronto sector will be operated by commanders Capt Rashmi Miranda and Capt Sunita Narula and First officers Capt Varsha Sheoran and Capt. Nidhi Suri.  The flight is being despatched by women despatcher Ms Rashmi Verma.

There are also other flights which are being operated by all-women crew:

AI-409/410   Delhi-Patna-Delhi

AI-469         Delhi-Raipur-Nagpur-Delhi

AI-811/812   Delhi-Lucknow-Delhi

AI-603/604   Mumbai-Bangalore-Mumbai

AI-569          Chennai-Mumbai

IX-671           Chennai-Colombo-Chennai

IX-302           Kozhikode-Mumbai-Kozhikode 

Air India's foray into all-women crew flights dates back to November 1985 when Capt. Saudamini Deshmukh and Capt. Nivedita Bhasin operated an Indian Airlines Fokker Friendship flight from Kolkata to Silchar, followed by the first jet flight when they operated a B737 from Mumbai to Goa in 1989.   In erstwhile Air India, the first A310 flight with all-women crew was operated on March 8, 2004 to Singapore with Capt. Rashmi Miranda in command and Capt. Kshmata Bajpai as co-pilot. 

It may be recalled that Air India had organised an all women crew flight last year.The B777-200LR Nonstop flight AI-141 from Mumbai to New York at midnight on March 8, 2010 took off which created history when an all-women crew operated an ultra long-haul flight. In 2010, Air India operated a record 22 all-women crew flight across its domestic and international network.

As part of the event, presentations will be delivered highlighting the contribution being made by women in all fields of civil aviation as well as the new opportunities that are emerging in the sector.

MC/DG/ls