Qantas’ chief pilot has slammed comments written about female pilots in an online forum as “offensive” and “completely unacceptable”.
Posts from the forum claiming there was “a rapid influx of female pilots of a certain age group spawning offspring and then wanting flexible work arrangements” and that they had “much more of an advantage at the moment in every area” were published by the Herald Sun on Tuesday.
The newspaper reported that it was believed the forum was moderated by a Qantas captain.
Qantas confirmed to news.com.au two of the pilots in the group no longer work for the company and a third is under investigation and not currently flying.
“These comments are completely unacceptable,” Qantas chief pilot Dick Tobiano said in a statement provided to news.com.au.
“They’re offensive, don’t reflect our values and have no place here or in any other workplace.
“We have many talented female pilots at Qantas and we want to encourage a lot more of them. Aviation hasn’t been good at that historically and clearly some outdated thinking still exists in some pockets.
“Criticism of these programs doesn’t change our view.”
The forum reportedly included criticisms of a Qantas announcement for 50 scholarships for female students and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders to the Qantas Group Pilot Academy.
Qantas announced the move on the same day it announced that Vanessa Hudson would be the company’s first female CEO, taking over from Alan Joyce in November.
“Interesting the day we get a female CEO announced is the day we get advised of this overt discrimination,” one man wrote in the forum about the scholarships, according to the Herald Sun.
A post claiming female pilots had a “huge advantage” complained that they were able to have children and come back to work to a good job.
“They can go off, run their breeding program or get a cushy job in the office at twice the pay of the other full time office staff whilst chest feeding. Have their kids. Keep their seniority number,” the post said.
About 7 per cent of Qantas pilots are female and almost 15 per cent at QantasLink.
The Qantas Group Pilot Academy has around 20 per cent female pilots.