The notoriously male-dominated airline industry has launched a global campaign to boost the number of women in senior positions to 25 percent by 2025.

It also wants to increase the number of women in under-represented positions such as pilots and operations by either 25 percent against current levels or to a minimum of 25 percent over the same period.

While there are no comprehensive industry-wide statistics on gender diversity, women are estimated to represent about 5 percent of the global pilot population and about 3 percent of airline CEOs.

READ: Airline collapses show industry remains fragile

Airlines to have already signed up to International Air transport Association’s 25by2025Campaign include China Eastern, Lufthansa Group and Qatar Airways.

Carriers who join the voluntary campaign will be required to report annually on key diversity metrics.

“Aviation is the business of freedom,’’ said IATA director general Alexandre de Juniac. “An example of that is the freedom for 2.7 million women and men to develop exciting careers within this industry.

“But women are under-represented at senior levels and in some professions within airlines.

“Airlines understand the value that a diverse and gender-balanced workforce delivers. The 25by2025 Campaign provides a global context and encouragement for the many initiatives our members are already taking to address the gender imbalance.”

The IATA boss said he was confident the new campaign would be a major catalyst for progress but noted the work would not be completed in 2025.

“In fact, this is only the beginning,’’ he said. “Our ultimate aim is of course for a 50-50 gender split with equal opportunities for everyone in every part of our industry.”

IATA is following its own advice and has committed to raising the representation of women in senior management from the current level of 19 percent to at least 25 percent by 2025.

It will work with member airlines to increase the number of women they appoint to IATA governance roles from the current 17 percent and boost the number of women participating as conference panelists and speakers.

Moves are also underway to create a forum on diversity and inclusion initiatives as well as publish annual industry statistics.

Boeing will re-examine flight deck design and operations in response to recommendations from a five-month internal review of the company’s aircraft design and development processes in the wake of the MAX disasters.

The recommendation to partner with airlines to look at the assumptions behind flight deck design and operations is one of five from a  special committee formed in April 2019 after the crashes of Ethiopian Airlines and Lion Air crashes.

“Design assumptions have evolved over time, and the company should ensure flight deck designs continue to anticipate the needs of the changing demographics and future pilot populations,’’ a company statement on the review said.

“Additionally, the company should work with all aviation stakeholders to advise and recommend general pilot training, methods and curricula – where warranted, above and beyond those recommended in a traditional training program – for all commercial aircraft manufactured by the company.”

The Boeing board voted to adopt all five recommendations and also to establish a permanent aerospace safety committee chaired by US  Joint Chiefs of Staff vice chairman Admiral Edmund Giambastiani Jr.

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Joining Adm. Giambastiani, a nuclear-trained submarine officer,  on the new committee will be Boeing board members Lynn Good and Lawrence Kellner. Good heads Duke Energy while Kellner is president of Emerald Creek Group and a former chief executive of Continental Airlines.

Boeing said each of three had extensive experience leading companies and organizations in regulated industries and government entities where safety was paramount.

It also announced it would require that future board directors have safety-related experience.

Final investigation reports on the crashes that killed 346 people and led to the worldwide grounding of the 737 are yet to be released.

But what has been released so far has raised questions about processes followed by the US  Federal Aviation Administration and Boeing as well as flight control software in the MAX and the responses of the pilots.

The board’s Special Committee on Airplane Policies and Processes recommended a “realignment” of the company’s engineering function that would see engineers report to the chief engineer, who would then report directly the CEO,  rather than business leaders.

“The company’s chief engineer should focus his or her attention primarily on the engineering function and the related needs of the company, supported by a senior leader who is responsible for developing, implementing and integrating new technology, tools, processes and digital systems,’’ the company said.

“The board believes the recommended realignment would strengthen the company’s engineering function, promote continued companywide focus on customer, business unit and operational priorities, and result in an even greater emphasis on safety.”

The chief engineer should also receive “all safety and potential safety reports”, a move the committee said would increase transparency and ensure reports from all levels of the company would be reviewed by senior management.

The committee found the company should also establish a product and services organization to review all aspects of product safety, including the investigation of cases “of undue pressure and anonymous product and service safety concerns raised by employees”.

Other recommendations were to establish a design requirements room with historical data and practices and expand the role of the Safety Promotion Center beyond engineering and manufacturing to the company’s global network.

Giambastiani, who chaired the special committee, described the independent review as “extensive, rigorous and focused on delivering specific recommendations to ensure the highest levels of safety in Boeing airplanes and aerospace products and services and for all who fly on Boeing airplanes”.

“The committee and the board believe these recommendations, along with actions already taken by the board, will strengthen engineering at the company, bolster the safety policies and procedures for the design, development and production of Boeing products and services, and further improve board and management oversight and accountability for safety not only at Boeing, but throughout the global aerospace industry,” he added.

Air New Zealand chairman Dame Therese Walsh expects to announce the airline’s new chief executive as early as October.

Outgoing chief executive Christopher Luxon ended his tenure at Wednesday’s annual meeting and acting chief executive Jeff McDowall has stepped into his shoes.

Dame Theresa said the global search for a new chief executive was progressing very well.

“There’s been a high level of interest for the role as you expect for a company of this caliber,’’ she said. “And the caliber of the candidates coming through is also very high.

“So we hope to make an announcement on a new chief executive officer in the next month or so in due course.”

READ: Jetstar pulls out of regional New Zealand

The retirement of current chairman Tony Carter means Air New Zealand is looking for a new director and dame Theresa said the company would make an announcement on that appointment shortly.

She said the new director would be up for re-election at the next annual meeting.

She paid tribute to outgoing chairman Tony Carter, saying he had shown “great and outstanding leadership” during his tenure.

Air New Zealand this week firmed up an order for eight Boeing 787-10s powered by GEnx-1B engines.

The deal was announced in May and the planes will replace the airline’s current fleet of Boeing 777 -200 aircraft.

Luxon said the multi-billion-investment was a game-changer for the airline, offering a 25 percent fuel improvement over the aircraft it replaced and opening new opportunities for future network growth.

The order saw AirNZ turn its back on Rolls-Royce after it suffered significant disruptions to its operations due to problems with the Trent 1000 engines on its existing Dreamliners.

The agreement was worth about $US2.7 billion at list prices but Air New Zealand would have negotiated a significant discount.

The first of the new 787-10s is set to join the fleet in 2020 and the airline has options that allow it to boost the order to 20 planes.

Recent airline failures, including the dramatic collapse of 178-year-old British travel company Thomas Cook, underscore the fragile nature of the airline industry, according to a senior industry official.

The Thomas Cook collapse on the weekend has overshadowed the recent collapse of French carrier Aigle Azur and the decision by XL Airways to halt ticket sales and payments and seek a rescue package.

READ: Jetstar pulls out of regional New Zealand

They are part of a string of European failures in recent years that include Monarch Airlines, flybmi, airberlin, Germania and Wow.

Other collpases, many attributed to overcapacity in the European market, include Primera, Small Planet, Azur , Sky Works, Cobalt  and Cello.

“What it shows is our industry is fragile,’’  International Air Transport Association boss Alexandre de Juniac told a teleconference Tuesday. “We are not a high margin industry, we are exposed to a lot of risk — including financial and economic risk.

“It is also clear that the restrictions and reductions of our economic conditions contribute to the fragility of the industry.”

The Thomas Cook grounding has left 150,000 travelers overseas and prompted British authorities to launch the biggest ever repatriation by air.

There have been reports of Thomas Cook customers being thrown out of hotels and others grappling with higher than usual airfares as they try to get home.

But most are being repatriated by the UK Civil Aviation Authority which said on its first day it brought back more than 14,700 passengers on 64 flights. That was more than 95 percent of the people who were originally due back with Thomas cook.

Some 74 flights were scheduled to operate on the second day to bring back a further 16,800 people.

“A repatriation of this scale and nature is unprecedented and unfortunately there will be some inconvenience and disruption for customers,’’ said CAA chief Richard Moriarty.

“We will do everything we can to minimize this as the operation continues.”

A number of airlines are helping with the repatriation, including UK carriers British Airways and Virgin Atlantic. Malaysia Airlines has also deployed an A380 to help rescue stranded travelers.

The collapses come as the industry faces a lower global profit this year and there are indications the fall might be bigger than IATA first predicted.

The organization said in June that it expected global airline profits to drop in 2019 to $US28 billion, down from the $US30 billion in 2018.

The industry group is due to update its figures in December and while de Juniac could not discuss numbers, he said he needed to recognize in advance that the trend “was more in the declining mode than in the increasing mode”.

On the cost side, the airline group sees pressure from increases in labor and infrastructure expenses as well as uncertainty over oil prices.

Fuel costs account for 20 to 22 percent of airline costs with that rising to as much as 40 percent for long-haul flights.

“For the moment the oil price has been very, very uncertain, hectic,’’ de Juniac said. “But on average we have remained something around  $US50 (per barrel).

“We do not see at this stage a significant impact of the oil price increase because there is not a significant increase yet.”

Another problem for airlines is softening demand.

This is more pronounced for cargo operations and IATA has attributed this to the trade wars and protectionist measures being taken around the world.