The perception that the aviation industry is dominated by men is no longer true.

And, Airports Fiji Limited does not discriminate employees according to gender.

This was the response by AFL’s Senior Financial Accountant Sanjana Mishra to the Standing Committee on Social Affairs on Thursday.

During AFL’s presentation on their 2016 Annual Report, Committee Chairperson Veena Bhatnagar questioned them what the gender composition was in their company.

“We can proudly say that we are blind when it comes to gender and other bias issues,” Ms Mishra said.

“In Air Traffic Management (ATM) 34 per cent of our staff are female.”

She said in the past three years females made up 50 per cent of their recruitment numbers … “thus giving a pun by pilots that our tower is “unmanned”.

She said the overall female ratio in 2015 was 15 per cent.

This increased to 22 per cent in 2016.

“Airports Fiji is an equal opportunity employer and an employer of choice,” she said.

The issue of employee benefits was also brought up during the presentation.

Public relations officer Christopher Chand said: “At Airports Fiji, staff members get a range of incentives and performance-based initiatives to drive our staff towards excellence.”

These include term life insurance, medical insurance, sick leave bonuses, licence allowance, annual bonuses, transportation and others.

He said staff were also encouraged to participate in wellness programmes and physical activities.

Edited by George Kulamaiwasa

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