The International Air Transport Association (IATA), the global representative body for the airline industry, on Monday opened nominations for its 2024 Diversity and Inclusion Awards. The nomination period will close at 23h59 Central European Time on April 17. This will be the fifth edition of these awards, which are held annually.

“The aviation industry has proven over and over again that it is capable of reinventing itself. For five years these awards have recognised aviation’s notable progress on diversity and inclusion – in particular on improving aviation’s gender balance,” affirmed IATA director-general Willie Walsh. “I encourage the many aviation professionals working hard in this area to share with us what they or their colleagues are doing to make a difference. With all the good work going on in this area I am sure that the judging panel will have a challenging task in evaluating the nominations. And we all look forward to celebrating the impact of the winning entries at the upcoming IATA annual general meeting and World Air Transport Summit in Dubai this June.”

There are three categories in the awards. These are – the Inspirational Role Model Award, the High Flyer Award, and the Diversity & Inclusion Team Award.

The International Role Model Award is open to nominees from across the aviation industry. It recognises a senior career woman in the air transport industry who has had a major influence on the aviation agenda, as a result of her contributing strongly to business delivery and diversity and inclusion programmes.

The High Flyer Award is open to all women aviation professionals. It recognises a woman aviation professional under the age of 40, who has promoted diversity and inclusion through concrete action, thereby demonstrating leadership.

The Diversity & Inclusion Team Award is open to IATA member airlines only. It recognises an airline that has shown measurable improvement in diversity and inclusion, as a result of its activities in this sphere.

The nominations will be judged by a panel of four. These are Air Transport World editor-in-chief Karen Walker (chairperson) and the winners of the 2023 awards, namely South African Director of Civil Aviation Poppy Khoza, Air Line Pilots Association President’s Committee for Diversity & Inclusion chairperson (and JetBlue Airways First Officer) Camila Turrieta, and, for Virgin Atlantic, senior manager and legal counsel Donna Codrington.

Each winner will receive $25 000, sponsored by Qatar Airways.

“The aviation industry is a truly global community, providing around 90-million jobs to people of all ages, backgrounds and disciplines around the world,” highlighted Qatar Airways chief people officer Antonio Schulthess. “This diversity is something that is strongly reflected in the Qatar Airways workforce and we are extremely proud of our ongoing work to promote a multi-talented and multicultural approach across the organisation, particularly in relation to gender matters.”