Iberia has commemorated this Thursday the 80th anniversary of the birth of the figure of the cabin crew member in Spain, recalling the first transatlantic commercial flight in which professional women were incorporated into onboard service. That route between Madrid and Buenos Aires (Argentina), operated on October 15, 1946, with 28 passengers, marked a before and after in Spanish commercial aviation.
This historical event took place on a Douglas DC-4, which linked both cities in about 36 hours, after making intermediate stops in Villa Cisneros (in Western Sahara), Natal, and Rio de Janeiro.
For that pioneering flight, four women were selected: Pilar Mascías, Marichín Ruiz, María José Ugarte, and Ana Marsans. In the beginning, several names were considered for this new occupation: aeromozas, aeroviarias, stewards, or provisionals, although the term "azafata" ultimately prevailed. The essential condition to access the position was to master languages, especially English.
A year later, in 1947, the first male cabin crew member of Iberia, Fernando Castillo, joined, who came from the hospitality sector, where he had worked as a waiter in a luxury restaurant in Madrid.
As Iberia explained in a statement, the tasks of the first flight attendants were mainly assistive: to offer calm and confidence to travelers and to take care of the catering distribution onboard. On that inaugural trip between Madrid and Buenos Aires, the menu included fried chicken, Spanish omelette, hard-boiled egg, and chocolates, served in small cardboard boxes.
The evolution of TCP through uniforms
Regarding clothing, the first flight attendants started without a uniform, although Iberia introduced it shortly after. At first, it consisted of a white outfit made of parachute fabric for the summer season, while a navy blue suit was used for the rest of the year. Military-cut, these designs changed over time, eliminating the hat and abandoning the white color due to its ease of getting dirty.
Since the 1960s, Iberia began to rely on renowned Spanish designers to create the uniforms, with Manuel Pertegaz inaugurating the airline's collaboration with national haute couture.
In the 70s, Elio Berhanyer took over and, subsequently, other Spanish designers such as Adolfo Domínguez and Alfredo Caral joined. Since 2020, the Catalan dressmaker Teresa Helbig has become the first woman to take on this role in the history of the company, with proposals in navy blue, red, and yellow.
More than 4,000 cabin crew and new responsibilities
Currently, Iberia has 4,062 cabin crew, of which 2,735 are women (67%) and 1,327 are men (33%). The airline emphasizes that, over time, this profession has transformed and specialized: from focusing almost exclusively on customer service, flight attendants have taken on a key role in terms of safety on board.
"A cabin crew member not only performs safety demonstrations. Among other functions, they are responsible for checking emergency equipment, managing evacuations, detecting behaviors that may affect safety, and acting in the event of unforeseen circumstances or medical emergencies. All of this in coordination with the pilots and ground staff," evaluated the TCP director at Iberia, Paco Rueda.