Six all-female crews from the Lufthansa Group marked International Women's Day on March 8th by flying passengers from Frankfurt, Munich, Cologne, Zurich, Vienna and Brussels to the German capital.

"We have already been able to increase the number of female applicants at our pilot flying school by addressing applicants in a more targeted manner and by making it easier to combine family and work," said Dr. Bettina Volkens, Member of the Executive Board for Human Resources and Legal Affairs of Deutsche Lufthansa AG. "15 percent of our junior pilots are currently female."

In addition to the cockpit, the Lufthansa Group also aims to increase the proportion of women in management positions. This is currently 15 percent. By 2021, the proportion of female executives at first management level is to be increased to 18 percent and at second management level to as much as 24 percent.

"In order to meet these goals, we are preparing our best female junior executives for their future management responsibilities with our own one-year program," says Volkens. At the same time, it is important to me to reduce unconscious bias when filling vacancies. A specially programmed video supports our hiring managers in selecting the right personnel for the right job.

For the growing number of female pilots, Lufthansa has had the word "Kapitänin" ("Captain") specially approved by the Gesellschaft für deutsche Sprache, Germany's most important government-sponsored language society.