Deborah Lawrie AM

Topic: “Concord to Covid and Beyond”

In 1979 Deborah was the subject of the first contested equal opportunity anti-discrimination case in Australia. After more than a year she won the battle against Sir Reginald Ansett in the High Court joining Ansett Airlines to become the first female airline pilot for a major airline in Australia. After the 1989 Pilot’s Dispute, Deborah relocated to The Netherlands with KLM City hopper. She was Flight Safety Manager and Safety Investigator for 8 years. During this time Deborah was chairman of the European Air Safety Working Group and a member of the IATA Aircraft Accident Classification Working Group. In 2004 Deborah was part of a team commissioned by The Netherlands, to align the Latvian aviation standards with those of the European Union. In 2008 Deborah returned to Australia as a Captain on the Airbus A320 with Jetstar in Christchurch and in 2012 joined Tiger Air in Sydney as an A320 Check and Training Captain until the airline was shut down in 2020. Deborah currently flies the B737 with Virgin Australia and with over 21,000 flying hours is the longest flying female airline pilot in the world. Deborah was inducted into the Victorian Honour Roll of Women in 2001. She received a Master Air Pilot award in 2017 and was appointed an AM in the General Division of The Order of Australia in 2019 for significant service to aviation as a commercial pilot, and to women in the profession. She was inducted into the Australian Aviation Hall of Fame in 2022 and in November 2023 Sydney Airport named a flyover that connects the International and Domestic terminals in her honour. Deborah has recently published her memoir ‘Touching The Sky’.