Women’s power in the Skyguide tower

To mark International Women’s day on Monday 8 March, the Swiss air navigation services company Skyguide demonstrated that even in the male-dominated aviation industry, women have an important role to play. After all, the promotion of diversity is a central component of Skyguide’s corporate strategy and personnel development.

Three out of a total of 20 female air traffic controllers were working in the control tower at Zurich Airport on International Women’s Day, checking the airspace within a radius of around 20 kilometres and issuing take-off and landing clearances. Even though the number of male air traffic controllers in Switzerland is still significantly higher, at 466 versus 103 women, the proportion of women working for Skyguide has risen steadily in recent years. The current figure is 23.4%. In addition, two women are members of the seven-member Skyguide Executive Management team since 2018, and three of the seven members of the Board of Directors are also women.

These figures show that Skyguide attaches great importance to equal opportunities – regardless of age, gender, ethnic background, origin, sexual orientation, family situation or disability. The air navigation service provider introduced a formal diversity management programme back in 2013, with a focus on gender equality. Skyguide actively creates favourable conditions for women in a male-dominated working environment and offers models such as part-time work, home office or job sharing to facilitate.

During an internal event for this year’s International Women’s Day, the commitment to women was once again underlined by the entire executive board: “My experience shows that the dynamic is better in mixed teams. This leads to more balanced discussions and ultimately to better decisions. The more diversity we have in the company, the more positive the results and thus the success,” said Alex Bristol, CEO of Skyguide.