As American Airlines prepares to mark its 100th anniversary in 2026, the carrier is sharpening its focus on who will shape aviation’s next century. In a milestone partnership with Women in Aviation International, American is aligning its centennial celebrations with a concerted push to advance gender equity, connect young women with careers in the skies, and spotlight the trailblazers whose stories helped reshape a once largely male industry. The collaboration underscores how questions of representation and access have moved to the center of aviation’s future, not its margins.
Aligning a Centennial With a New Era for Women in Aviation
American’s centennial campaign is built around honoring 100 years of flight while looking ahead to the next century of innovation and inclusion. The airline’s story began in 1926 with a single U.S. mail flight between Chicago and St. Louis. Today, it operates thousands of daily departures on a global network and is one of a small group of carriers worldwide to reach the 100 year milestone. Framing that history through the lens of who has been able to participate in aviation, and who has been left out, is an increasingly central part of the narrative.
Women in Aviation International, founded in 1990, has become the leading global nonprofit focused on recruiting, retaining and advancing women across every corner of the industry, from airline cockpits and maintenance hangars to air traffic control centers and aerospace engineering labs. The organization’s annual conferences, scholarship programs and local chapters now touch tens of thousands of women and girls each year, reflecting both rising interest and persistent barriers. Its mission dovetails with American’s centennial theme of looking forward by investing in people.
The partnership between American and Women in Aviation International is structured around this moment of convergence. As the airline rolls out centennial initiatives, from special aircraft liveries and onboard experiences to historical retrospectives, it is also backing programming that expands the pipeline of female talent and elevates the stories of women who changed the industry. For both organizations, the message is that celebrating 100 years of progress must go hand in hand with a more intentional effort to shape the next 100.
Honoring Pioneers Who Redefined What Was Possible
A central pillar of Women in Aviation International’s work is its Pioneer Hall of Fame, which recognizes women whose achievements have had a transformative impact on the field. The most recent inductees reflect both the breadth of women’s contributions and their deep ties to commercial aviation and American Airlines in particular. Their stories bring a human dimension to the broader data about representation, showing how individual persistence can bend the trajectory of an entire sector.
Among the 2026 honorees is Olga Custodio, widely known as the first Latina to become a pilot in the United States Air Force and later a pioneering Hispanic female captain in commercial aviation. After serving as a T 38 instructor pilot and completing more than two decades in uniform, she went on to a long career at American, flying aircraft including the Boeing 727, 757 and 767 and accumulating more than 11,000 hours in the air. Her trajectory, from overcoming early obstacles to mentoring younger aviators, has made her a powerful symbol of what is possible for women from underrepresented communities.
Joining her in the Hall of Fame class are Joan Sullivan Garrett, a medical and safety innovator whose work transformed in flight emergency response, and the late Nadine Berniece Ramsey, a World War II era military pilot whose service with the Women Airforce Service Pilots program challenged assumptions about women’s capabilities in the cockpit. Taken together, their careers span combat training, commercial airline operations, business aviation, safety leadership and historic military service.
For American Airlines, highlighting these figures is about more than honoring past employees or industry partners. By lifting up women who were often the only ones like them in their training classes, cockpits or boardrooms, the airline and Women in Aviation International are making the case that today’s progress rests squarely on a foundation laid by individuals who refused to accept the limitations imposed on them. That historical context is increasingly important as the industry works to recruit a more diverse next generation.
Building the Pipeline: Conferences, Scholarships and Youth Outreach
The partnership is also anchored in the practical work of moving more women into aviation careers at a time when the sector faces looming shortages of pilots, technicians and other skilled professionals. Women in Aviation International’s annual conference has become a key recruiting ground, drawing thousands of attendees from around the world for professional development sessions, mentorship events and a busy exhibit hall where airlines, manufacturers and training organizations compete for talent.
Recent conferences have awarded dozens of scholarships funded by industry partners, supporting everything from initial flight training and advanced ratings to engineering degrees and leadership development. Since the mid 1990s, the organization’s scholarship funders have provided many millions of dollars in financial support, helping to lower one of the most significant barriers facing aspiring pilots and aviation professionals. American’s participation as a sponsor and recruiter connects these efforts directly to a major carrier’s workforce needs.
Youth outreach is another critical component. Women in Aviation International’s Girls in Aviation Day events have expanded to cities across the United States and around the world, offering hands on activities, aircraft tours and direct interaction with female pilots, mechanics and air traffic controllers. These programs are designed to capture interest early, long before career paths are fixed, and to counter the persistent perception that aviation is a male domain. As American leans into its centennial celebrations, supporting and amplifying these initiatives provides a tangible means of extending its legacy to future generations.
For both partners, the logic is straightforward. Without a sufficient pipeline of trained professionals, the growth and resilience of air travel are at risk. By focusing intentionally on women and other underrepresented groups, they aim to broaden that pipeline while also reshaping the culture of aviation workplaces. The centennial moment gives added urgency and visibility to that work.
Progress in the Cockpit and Beyond, but Gaps Remain
Despite high profile success stories and visible commitments from airlines, women still represent a relatively small share of pilots worldwide. The proportion of female airline captains and first officers remains in the single digits in many markets, even as the numbers slowly climb. In technical roles such as maintenance and avionics, the gender gap is often wider. Senior leadership positions across airlines and aerospace companies are still dominated by men.
American Airlines and Women in Aviation International are framing their partnership explicitly around closing these gaps, not only through recruitment but also through retention and advancement. Mentorship programs, employee resource groups and leadership development tracks within airlines are increasingly seen as essential tools for ensuring that women who do enter the industry are able to build long careers rather than peeling off midstream. Supportive policies around scheduling, caregiving and work life balance are particularly important in pilot and maintenance roles that have traditionally been structured around long or irregular hours.
There is also a cultural dimension that both organizations are confronting head on. Women in Aviation International’s leadership has spoken openly about the persistent effect of systemic barriers and negative rhetoric on women considering aviation. Addressing that climate requires not only internal policies but also visible signals to the broader public that women belong in every part of the industry. American’s decision to tie its centennial storytelling to accounts of female trailblazers and contemporary role models is one such signal.
As airlines navigate fierce competition for talent, the argument for inclusion is increasingly pragmatic as well as moral. Companies that can demonstrate inclusive cultures and real opportunities for advancement are likely to hold an advantage in attracting skilled professionals who have options across sectors. The partnership between American and Women in Aviation International is being cast as a model for how large carriers can work with advocacy organizations to drive measurable change.
Intersection of Inclusion: Linking Gender, Race and Opportunity
The push to support women in aviation is unfolding alongside a broader industry reckoning with racial and ethnic disparities. American’s recent role as title sponsor of the Organization of Black Aerospace Professionals’ 50th anniversary celebration is one example of how the centennial is being used as a platform to highlight multiple dimensions of inclusion at once. That partnership honors the legacy of figures like Captain David E. Harris, who became the first Black pilot hired by a major U.S. airline in the 1960s and later helped found what is now a leading nonprofit in aerospace diversity.
Women in Aviation International’s own membership reflects this intersectional reality. Its chapters and scholarship recipients span a wide range of backgrounds, and the organization has increasingly emphasized the need to address race, ethnicity and socioeconomic status alongside gender. For American, aligning with both Women in Aviation International and groups like the Organization of Black Aerospace Professionals allows it to tell a more complete story about who has been excluded from aviation and how that is beginning to change.
In practical terms, this means that many of the initiatives being spotlighted as part of the centennial celebrations are designed to reach students and early career professionals who might otherwise have little exposure to aviation. Outreach in schools, community centers and youth programs is aimed at demystifying the industry, highlighting accessible entry points and connecting participants directly with mentors who look like them. These efforts are particularly focused on communities that have historically had limited representation in airline cockpits and technical roles.
The combined weight of large carriers and established nonprofits can make a difference in this landscape, especially when it comes to funding training, providing experiential opportunities and influencing public perceptions. By linking its 100 year milestone with deliberate action on equity and inclusion, American is signaling that the next century of flight will be judged not only by how far and how fast people travel, but also by who gets to be part of that journey.
From Symbolism to Structure: What the Partnership Will Measure
Symbolic gestures, from special liveries to commemorative events, are a visible part of American’s centennial, and many incorporate themes of diversity and women’s leadership. Yet both the airline and Women in Aviation International are underlining the importance of structural changes and measurable outcomes. That includes tracking how many women are hired into pilot training pipelines, maintenance apprenticeships and engineering roles, as well as monitoring promotion rates and retention over time.
Scholarship funds and sponsorships are being framed not as one off donations but as multi year investments tied to specific targets. Airlines that partner with Women in Aviation International, including American, increasingly view these financial commitments as core components of their talent strategies. Some programs link scholarship recipients directly to internship or cadet pathways, creating an integrated route from initial exposure to a full time position.
Data about the impact of these efforts will be closely watched as the centennial year unfolds. Advocates argue that public reporting on diversity metrics, mentorship participation and advancement outcomes is essential to moving beyond aspirational statements. For a company with the scale and visibility of American, progress or lack of it is likely to influence how other carriers and suppliers approach similar partnerships with Women in Aviation International and related organizations.
At the same time, there is recognition that cultural change in a global, technically complex industry will not happen overnight. Leaders at both organizations stress that the centennial is a starting point rather than an endpoint, an opportunity to solidify commitments and build momentum. The real test, they say, will be whether those commitments endure long after the anniversary logos come down and the celebratory events give way to the everyday work of running an airline.
A Vision of the Next 100 Years in the Skies
Looking beyond the immediate celebrations, the partnership between American Airlines and Women in Aviation International offers a glimpse of what the next century of aviation could look like if diversity and inclusion are treated as foundational rather than peripheral. That future imagines flight decks and maintenance hangars where women are present in numbers that reflect the broader population, executive suites where leadership teams draw on a more varied set of experiences, and classrooms and training centers where young people from all backgrounds see aviation as an attainable aspiration.
Technological change is likely to accelerate over the coming decades, with new aircraft designs, alternative fuels, advanced automation and evolving models of air travel reshaping the industry. Advocates argue that a more diverse workforce will be better equipped to navigate and lead through those shifts. Exposure to a wider array of perspectives and problem solving approaches, they contend, is not only an equity issue but a competitive advantage as aviation grapples with climate pressures, economic cycles and rapid innovation.
For American, which has weathered everything from economic downturns and geopolitical shocks to public health crises and technological upheavals over the last century, the decision to link its milestone anniversary to the advancement of women and underrepresented groups is both a nod to history and a strategic bet on the future. By partnering with Women in Aviation International at this particular moment, the airline is making clear that the story of its next 100 years will be judged not only by the destinations it serves, but by who it brings along to chart the course.
In a sector defined by constant motion and scrutiny, the success of this collaboration will be measured in quiet, cumulative ways: the student who attends a Girls in Aviation Day event and later earns her airline transport pilot certificate, the maintenance apprentice who becomes a senior engineer, the first officer who moves into the captain’s seat and then into the boardroom. As American’s centennial unfolds, these individual journeys will offer the clearest indication of whether the promises of progress and empowerment in aviation are being kept.