On International Women's Day, ENAIRE shines a spotlight on the great contributions of female pioneers to air navigation in Spain

ENAIRE, the national air navigation service provider, celebrated International Women's Day today with a round table featuring all the company's female directors, which was broadcast to the entire organisation.

At this event, ENAIRE unveiled a new project that, as part of the activities of the "ENAIRE ENfemenino" network, will highlight the great contribution of female pioneers to air navigation in ENAIRE and Spain. The presentation included the Chief Instructor and air controller at the ENAIRE Control Centre in Barcelona, Mercedes Varona, and the head of the Human Factors Department, Gualupe Cortés Obrero.

2021 is precisely the year chosen by the United Nations to raise awareness of the importance of female leadership and the so-called "Generation Equality", the goal being to take action towards a future of equality, and the MITMA is focusing on those women who paved the way in different occupations, under the slogan "Women changed our course".

In the aforementioned debate, the Financial and Economic Director, Celia Rios Dochao, noted: "We must leverage equality policies in state-owned companies and expand them to every area of business".

Meanwhile, the Director of Business Development, Mariluz de Mateo, pointed out the positive trend in Europe in terms of the presence of women in air navigation, although it ranges from 15% to 25%, depending on the case.

In this regard, ENAIRE's CEO, Angel Luis Arias, explained that at ENAIRE, 34% of its professionals are women, 33% in the control agreement and 37% in the general agreement. "A lot of work remains to achieve real equality", Arias said, providing as an example that "in some occupations, the number of women is low".

The Managing Director of the ENAIRE Foundation, Beatriz Montero de Espinosa, emphasised the role of women themselves in raising awareness within the company. For example, when it comes to work-life balance, she noted that this area proved most difficult for her, given the need to travel for work.

Laura Garcés Acín, recently appointed Network Director, highlighted that ENAIRE is committed to a leadership style in which everyone can contribute equally, regardless of whether they are a woman or a man.

The Eastern Region Director, Inmaculada Prieto Serrano, added that "when the organisation you work for prioritises skills and attitudes in your professional career, you feel proud to belong to the company".

Milagros Gutiérrez Román, head of the General Management's Cabinet Division, who noted that "ENAIRE is evolving towards a more open and participatory model that allows us to promote new talent", acknowledged that "when she first started working in Operations, she did feel the obvious need to demonstrate that she could do her job".

María López-Fernández Pacheco, head of the Corporate Social Responsibility and 2030 Agenda Department, moderated the debate. "We need to help empower women in companies. We can't be absent from this debate because we have a lot of influence", she said.

At the event, a video on International Women's Day was shown that was made in partnership with the MITMA, and which featured the head of the Operations Department of ENAIRE's Control Centre in Madrid, Paloma Merino Blanco.

ENAIRE ENfemenino

The new 'ENAIRE ENfemenino' network provides a space for sharing knowledge and concerns specific to aviation activity, and addresses the social demand to create instruments or platforms centred around women to make them more visible in strongly male-dominated sectors, such as ours.   

'ENAIRE ENfemenino' is an open, voluntary and collaborative networking space that is open to all of ENAIRE's professionals who wish to join as partners. 

The activities of 'ENAIRE ENfemenino' are planned around four types of activities: 

- Gatherings on current affairs in the aviation sector of relevance to every job.

- Outreach videos starring the network's members, in which they discuss their professional experiences.

- Publications and articles written in specialised magazines, social responsibility channels and elsewhere.

- Specific events to celebrate, for example, International Women's Day (8 March), in which women's achievements will be recognised and dynamic activities will be held where all the employees of ENAIRE and the organisations that we belong to can take part, such as "Women Fly High". 

About ENAIRE

ENAIRE is the air navigation service provider in Spain.

As a company of the Ministry of Transport, Mobility and the Urban Agenda, it provides en route control services for all flights and overflights from five control centres in Madrid, Barcelona, Seville, Gran Canaria and Palma, as well as approach services to every airport in the country.

In addition, 45 control towers receive ENAIRE's communication, navigation and surveillance services, and 21 airports, including the country's busiest, rely on its aerodrome control services.

ENAIRE is the fourth most important European air navigation service provider, and, in a clear commitment to the Single Sky initiative, belongs to international partnerships such as SESAR Joint Undertaking, SESAR Deployment Manager, A6 Alliance, iTEC, CANSO and ICAO.

ENAIRE is the official provider of aeronautical information in Spain