Women in Aviation International's (WAI) 33rd annual conference kicked off Thursday afternoon in Nashville, Tennessee, with more than 170 exhibitors and about 4,500 attendees. This sets up the three-day event to be one of the strongest in its history, organizers said.
WAI 2022 marked the return of an in-person conference after the event was held virtually in 2021. “We are so excited to be back in person,” said WAI CEO Allison McKay after cutting the ribbon to open the exhibition. “All of the energy of the people [here] can’t be matched virtually as attendees come back together to network, learn from each other, and eventually get a job.”
The conference—which has served as a key venue for hiring as well as awarding scholarships—takes on a heightened role as job openings soar. “Right now, our industry is in a situation where it has never previously found itself with the number of open positions and the need for employees across all career fields and industry segments,” McKay told AIN. “It is more important than ever that we bring people together to connect them with their potential employers.”
Importantly, she added, “This is an opportunity to change the face of aviation. There have never been so many open positions that can be filled by a diverse audience, and organizations like WAI are vital at expanding the reach.”
The opening day of WAI 2022 was host to nearly two dozen industry briefings, during which prospective employers outlined positions available and the qualifications they require. Employers ranged from Part 121 carriers such as Delta Air Lines and JetBlue to business aviation organizations like Flexjet and NetJets. In addition, manufacturers such as Textron Aviation and Boeing and training organizations like FlightSafety International hosted briefings. These briefings drew a significant number of male, as well as female, jobseekers.
Audience members at a Meet and Greet the WAI Board session asked about the need to fill openings and diversify the workforce. Linda Markham, president and CEO of Cape Air and outgoing WAI chair, said, “We’ve never seen it like this,” and stressed the importance of students moving forward with their training.
As for diversification, Markham noted that the pandemic has taken a toll, with many women leaving the workforce. “It’s a little bit of an uphill battle,” she said, to increase the proportion of women in the industry, and she added that many who left “are not coming back.”
The industry has lost “a lot of really smart people,” Markham said, noting that the net result is vacancies that ultimately will hurt the ability to serve small communities.
WAI, however, is continuing its campaign to bring new students into the field and foster their training. More than 100 scholarships, valued at around $500,000 total, had been lined up by the opening of the conference, and the scholarship tallies tend to increase over the three days of the event. In all, more than $14 million in scholarships have been awarded at WAI.
Meanwhile, dozens of professional development seminars, educational sessions, and workshops are planned, with keynote speakers to include National Transportation Safety Board chair Jennifer Homendy, MedAire founder and chair Joan Sullivan Garrett, U.S. Air Force Gen. Jacqueline Van Ovost, Boeing v-p of environmental sustainability Sheila Remes, and pilot and author Carole Hopson.
In addition, the first female fixed-wing pilot in the Afghan Air Force, Niloofar Rahmani, will discuss her journey. Rahmani has political asylum in the U.S., where she has learned to fly C-130s.
