The Australia-Pacific Partnerships for Aviation (P4A) program brings together aviation and GEDSI experts to ensure that aviation policies, plans, and strategies actively promote gender equality and prevent gender-based violence in the Pacific aviation sector. This partnership includes targeted measures that create safer, more inclusive workplaces across the sector.
Bruce Alabaster, a P4A Adviser currently supporting the Fiji Government on the Civil Aviation Master Plan , is a strong advocate for gender equality in aviation. He is collaborating with P4A’s GEDSI Lead, Seema Naidu, to develop strategies that advance women’s leadership and participation in the aviation workforce, ensure equal employment opportunities, improve working conditions, and implement equity measures to prevent violence against women.
Bruce brings extensive experience from his tenure as Chief Executive Officer of Air Niugini (2020–2023), a period marked by the challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic. Under his leadership, 40% of the airline’s directors were women, and the number of female General Managers quadrupled. The same period saw significant increases in female pilots and Licensed Aircraft Maintenance Engineers (LAMEs), supported through company-funded cadet programs and self-sponsorship.
Seema Naidu, the P4A GEDSI lead is currently working with Fiji Airports to develop its Gender Equality, Disability, and Social Inclusion (GEDSI) policy and with Air Terminal Services to create an integrated organisational strategy for gender equality and disability inclusion. These initiatives aim to ensure that women Fiji’s aviation sector thrive in a safe and equitable work environment.
P4A is working to ensure aviation opportunities and services reach all communities across the Blue Pacific, so that no-one is left behind.
