International Women's Day: Brussels Airlines to Fly With All Female Crew on March 8th in Honor of Holiday

In celebration of International Women's Day, Brussels Airlines will have an all-female crew on a Brussels-to-New York flight on Saturday, March 8.

Brussels Airlines Flight 501 is supposed to leave Brussels at 10:30 a.m. and land at JFK airport in New York at around 1:05 p.m. The plane making the flight in an Airbus A330 wide body jet. The special International Women's Day flight was encouraged by the female pilots and flight attendants from the airline, the airline said in an announcement.

According to the airline, a pilot identified as "Captain Lauretta" pushed the idea for the special flight in honor of women. She has worked for the airline since 1998. Captain Lauretta and a woman named Sophie will be int he cockpit during this special flight and the flight attendants will include Sonia, Cynthia, Gina, Chantal, Diana, Françoise, Melanie and Nathalie will take care of the service in the cabin.

"We are really looking forward to this flight", Captain Lauretta said in a statement about the flight. "A job in aviation is becoming more and more favorable to women and, with a little organization and support from your family and with an employer like Brussels Airlines, it is possible to combine it with your family life. I've noticed a positive evolution in recent years and more and more women choose for a career as pilot."

Brussels Airlines says it has 46 female pilots in its crew and 420 male pilots, meaning women make up about 10 percent of the pilot staff. The airline says this is greater than the average for European airlines.

The announcement of this special all-women flight comes after an incident in the same week in which a male passengers left a sexist note to a female WestJet pilot saying that women don't belong in the cockpit, but should stick to being mothers.