Airline Industry DEI Could Get Deadly

Written by Hudson Crozier

What’s happening: We recently reported on how airlines are prioritizing diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) in hiring amid rising near-collisions and other close calls in the air. A closer look reveals DEI’s influence across the aviation industry — and the reputational crisis it creates.

The planes: The emergency door of a Boeing commercial plane suddenly blew out during a flight this month, an incident that could have been fatal for passengers. Boeing, one of the world’s top aircraft builders, has been sued and investigated by Congress in recent years over safety concerns in its manufacturing.

• The response? The company began offering executives large annual bonuses for meeting diversity quotas in 2022, taking emphasis away from “product safety” and “employee safety and quality,” documents show.

The airlines: United Airlines has partnered with colleges that have some of the lowest SAT scores in the country to find academy recruits because they are historically black campuses. The airline boasted that almost 80 percent of its 2022 class contained women and non-white people.

The regulators: The National Transportation and Safety Board (NTSB) and Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) — tasked with inspecting and regulating air travel — both incorporate DEI in employment. The FAA even goes as far as seeking out people with “severe intellectual” disabilities and “psychiatric” problems. Congress has blamed the FAA for a lack of oversight of Boeing’s manufacturing.

Why it matters: As of now, dangerous incidents on commercial planes are extremely rare — but increasing. Simultaneously, merit and excellence are being sacrificed for DEI in every area that factors into flight safety. Hiring based on race and gender is also illegal under civil rights law.