Breaking the glass ceiling, the first woman CEO of an Indian airline, Dr Harpreet A De Singh, has received the IATA Inspirational Role Model Award.
24 December 2021: Adding another feather to her cap, Dr. Harpreet A De Singh, the first women pilot selected by Air India has created history yet again and this time across the border. She was recently awarded the IATA Inspirational Role Model Award for her outstanding career in aviation which will serve as a shining torch of inspiration for millions of Aviation aspirants across the globe. It is indeed a rare moment for India as well as the world.
Responding to this award, the Indian Minister of Civil Aviation, Jyotiraditya Scindiya tweeted, “Overjoyed & proud to see Indian women in aviation bring laurels & make a mark on the world! Breaking the glass ceiling, the first woman CEO of an Indian airline, Dr Harpreet A De Singh, has received the IATA Inspirational Role Model Award – a first for India. Congratulations!”
Dr. Harpreet A De Singh has a string of accolades and awards under her name. Let us re-count a few of the milestones of her glorious career path –
- Indian Airlines appointed Harpreet A De Singh as the CEO of Alliance Air making her the first women CEO to head an airline and created history.
- Prior to this appointment she was working as executive director for flight safety in Air India
- She was the first woman pilot to be selected by Air India in 1998
- She is the President of Indian Women Pilots Association.
- She is the first woman chief of flight safety in India and also the first woman head of quality management systems in an airline
- In January 2020, Singh was rewarded with the prestigious Bharat Ratna Dr APJ Abdul Kalam Excellence Award for “Outstanding Personal achievement and Distinguished services to the nation.”
- In the same year she was awarded the Outstanding Women in Aviation Award at the MRO South Asia Summit conducted by the STAT Media Group
- She is also Chairman of ‘Aeronautical Society of India’, Mumbai Branch and Council Member at Headquarters of AeSI.
In her glittering career path she overcame all challenges breaking the glass ceiling along the way. She has left behind a string of firsts, which will be hard to equal. In her 30-year career at Air India, Harpreet made sure she made the most of each opportunity that came her way.
