Air Canada is marking Black History Month by featuring the achievements and contributions of its Black employees to aviation, including an inaugural Black History celebratory flight on Friday staff with an entirely back crew.

On Friday, Flight AC914 from Toronto to Fort Lauderdale and return flight AC917 operated with a wide-body Airbus A330-300 aircraft, included two Black pilots and eight flight attendants, and was further planned and supported by Black managers and employees on the ground and behind the scenes.

“We salute and acknowledge the achievements and contributions of Air Canada’s Black employees who brought forward their idea of operating today’s Black History celebratory flight. We are very pleased to champion their identity, pride, and enthusiasm for this special, inaugural flight to commemorate Black History Month at our airline,” said Air Canada executive VP Arielle Meloul-Wechsler.

“We are a global airline that transports customers across six continents, and our biggest strength is our people. Air Canada is widely recognized for its diversity, culture and inclusiveness, and we strive to create a workplace that employees feel proud to belong to by leaning in and listening, learning, and working collaboratively to continually advance shared initiatives,” she added.

In its internal voluntary surveys, 387 Air Canada employees self-identified as Black, and work in leadership, management, specialized professional positions, and across all work groups including pilots, flight attendants, customer service agents, maintenance technicians and ground support crews.

“Not only does this demonstrate Black representation in aviation, we also want qualified Black people to know they have a place in our industry and especially at Air Canada,” said Yolanda Cornwall, Customer Service Training Specialist – Toronto. “We thank Air Canada for supporting this historic flight and for working together with Air Canada’s Black employee community to further strengthen our airline’s culture.”