60 Hawaiian Airlines employees volunteered to give a group of 40 future female leaders a glimpse into a career at Hawaiʻi’s hometown carrier during the 8th annual Girls in Aviation Day event on Saturday, September 24.

Girls in Aviation Day, organized locally by the Women in Aviation International (WAI) Aloha Chapter, drew girls from Oʻahu, ages 12 to 17, to Hawaiian Airlines’ Honolulu headquarters.  The WAI Aloha Chapter and Hawaiian’s Women in Aviation Employee Resource Group (WIA ERG) joined Chief Operating Officer Jon Snook in welcoming the students before embarking on a series of interactive, behind-the-scenes activities

Throughout the day, each student received one-on-one mentorship from employees who shared their expertise, from maintenance and engineering to flight attendants and pilots. They also demoed exercises in the carrier’s Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner simulator and inflight training facilities, tested tools used daily to maintain its 61-aircraft fleet, learned about various corporate roles, and listened to the different career paths of Hawaiian employees.

Members of the Scouts USA Kailua Girl Troop 311 and the Girl Scouts of Hawaiʻi also joined the events, leveraging their Girls in Aviation Day experiences to earn a special aviation merit badge. Requirements for their badges included identifying and describing different aircraft types and explaining the primary control surfaces used from takeoff to landing.

(Photo credit: Hawaiian Airlines)