JetBlue has brought its annual Fly Like A Girl event to Fort Lauderdale, inspiring the next generation of women in aviation. More than 100 local 8-14 year olds were brought together at Jetscape Services to learn more about the industry.
The event was led by JetBlue’s chief financial officer and president of the JetBlue Foundation, Ursula Hurley, and held in partnership with the airline’s Women in Flight Crewmember Resource Group (CRG), the Diversity, Equity and Inclusion team, the Corporate Social Responsibility team and the JetBlue Foundation.
The teams share a common goal of ensuring women are better represented in the hangars, airports, boardrooms, and corporate offices of the future.
Fly Like A Girl
JetBlue’s annual event aims to showcase the various career possibilities in the aviation industry and promote interest in STEM fields – Science, Education, Technology, and Mathematics. Fly Like A Girl offers young girls the opportunity to meet with and learn directly from women from across the airline, discovering what it is like to work as a woman in aviation.
As part of the day’s events, the children took part in experimental activities and also boarded one of the airline’s Airbus A320s to see firsthand the impact they could have on the aviation industry. In a statement, Hurley spoke proudly of the event and its impact on young girls, saying,
“We are excited to bring our signature Fly Like a Girl event to our beloved Fort Lauderdale focus city for the first time, furthering our commitments to our South Florida communities and beyond. As we near our 10-year JetBlue Foundation anniversary, we are proud of how far we have come, but realize that our work is far from over when it comes to continuing to break down barriers of entry into careers in aviation.”
Congresswoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz was also present at the event and thanked JetBlue for taking the initiative to inspire the next generation of women in aviation. She said,
“I commend JetBlue Airways for encouraging young girls to pursue a career in aviation. Aviation is a field that is traditionally and heavily male dominated. Programs like this one will help expand opportunities for young girls to increase female representation in the industry.”
JetBlue’s growing presence in Fort Lauderdale
The event forms part of the airline’s ongoing commitment to South Florida. JetBlue has stated that following its merger with Spirit Airlines, it aims to reach 250 flights per day from Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport (FLL) and 200 from Orlando International Airport (MCO).
JetBlue’s four other focus cities are Los Angeles (LAX), Boston (BOS), San Juan (SJU), and New York (JFK). The airline has, however, recently announced plans to temporarily reduce its flying schedule at New York’s major airports in a bid to ease congestion and therefore disruption this summer.
According to data from ch-aviation.com, the low-cost carrier operates a total fleet of 291 aircraft, made up of 15 Airbus A220s, 130 Airbus A320s, 93 Airbus A321s, and 59 Embraer E190s.