AI 'will open new jobs for women in aviation industry'

Technology will bring opportunities to create new roles in sector, panellists tell Airport Show conference in Dubai

Delegates at the Women in Aviation conference in Dubai heard panellists predict that AI will eliminate some jobs, but create others. Shruti Jain / The National

Artificial intelligence technology will create new jobs in aviation that can help more women access opportunities in this traditionally male-dominated sector, experts told the Airport Show in Dubai on Tuesday.

The increasing use of AI technologies in the aviation industry will change the future of the job market, said panellists at the Women in Aviation conference at the Dubai World Trade Centre event.

This shift will open up more career opportunities for women in the cockpit, air traffic control towers, safety regulation bodies and beyond, they predicted.

“AI is not going to bring something specifically for women that is different to a man, it does not differentiate … We need to look at it differently,” said Laila Bin Hareb Almheiri, founder and chief executive of aviation consultancy Alive Group.

“What kind of opportunities can women seek when AI is going to be used more?

“We can penetrate the aviation industry by having skills in artificial intelligence and IT … So, instead of women battling with different fields that we are trying to break through, we need to create our own work within aviation and our own niche.”

New types of jobs will emerge when AI is implemented in areas such as air traffic control systems and will raise the need for managing cybersecurity risks and threats in the aviation industry, she said.

“AI will totally shift the way we look at careers in different fields and aviation is no different … so the jobs will be different in aviation in future … some jobs will be eliminated and some jobs will be created in the future, so as women we need to look at what opportunities are lying in the future when AI is going to be implemented more and more,” Ms Almheiri said.

This discussion comes as the aviation industry remains under scrutiny for the slow pace of improving gender parity at the top echelons.

Among 123 listed carriers tracked by Bloomberg, women typically hold just 13 per cent of executive posts, less than the 16 per cent in financial services for example.

Only US airline JetBlue Airways Corp. has an equal gender split among executives. Of the carriers tracked by Bloomberg, 22 have no female executives at all.

In 2019, the International Air Transport Association launched its 25by2025 campaign, in which airlines pledged to raise the number of women in senior positions and under-represented areas by 25 per cent, or to a minimum of 25 per cent by 2025.

By December 2022, the airline trade association said 147 airlines — half of its total number of members — had joined the voluntary initiative.

The use of ethical AI tools in the aviation industry can help to reduce gender bias in situations where decision-makers need to evaluate the work of women or hire qualified female talent, Malak Trabelsi Loeb, founder and chief executive of business consultancy Vernewell Group, told the conference.

AI technologies can “help tremendously” in removing unconscious gender biases in recruitment and corporate systems, Noora Janahi, vice president of Women in Aviation International's Bahrain chapter, said.

The use of AI in the aviation industry will also help boost mentorship programmes for women and customise training for air traffic control or air pilot jobs that can help accelerate the entry of women into the field, panellists said.

“Women, come into the aviation field, whether it's air traffic control, pilots, engineering — we need you,” said Saleha Ali Reza Badpa, DWC Tower operational training specialist at the Dubai Air Navigation Services.