Etihad Airways: confronting bias in cabin crew culture

A two-day VR pilot in February 2024 that gave multicultural cabin crew a way to meet unconscious bias in practice, not in theory.

A participant with a handwritten name tag is fitted with a VR headset by another attendee, both wearing Etihad workshop visitor lanyards. — Fitting a headset at the February 2024 workshop.

Crews from everywhere, passengers from everywhere

Etihad Airways set out to equip its cabin crew with tools to identify and address unconscious bias in practice, given the range of cultures its crews and passengers represent.

People Tech Revolution, in collaboration with Utano Global, delivered the pilot using content from the PTR VR Library.

What Etihad saw in its crews

Cultural misunderstandings driven by stereotypes, communication breakdowns caused by hierarchy, and unconscious bias affecting teamwork and the passenger experience. Traditional training was judged not immersive or engaging enough to spark real behavioural change.

A simulated airport ground crew stand at dawn beside a baggage tug, wet apron, grey sky. A crew member wears the headset; a colleague stands beside her, hand raised, talking. — Ground crew on the apron at dawn.

Bias in a galley has nowhere to hide

A crew works in metres of space for hours at a time, with a hierarchy that decides who speaks. A stereotype in that space costs the passenger as well as the colleague.

Etihad wanted empathy, allyship and everyday inclusion that crews would practise, not a module they would complete.

"It has been so great to meet other businesses working in the aerospace industry. The program has opened our eyes to different possibilities and we really have enjoyed every second of networking and improving our business."

Leonie Sanderson, PTR's co-founder, seated at a table with her phone in hand. Leonie Sanderson
Co-founder, People Tech Revolution, on the Boeing-backed Aerospace Xelerated program. Startup Spotlight, Aerospace Xelerated, 2023

What the two days combined

Two PTR Library modules, a warm-up, and two forms of facilitated conversation, so the headset was never the whole session.

A lounge scenario for welcoming a traveller. — Everyday Inclusion and Mind Shift: microaggressions, racial and gender bias, allyship.

A man wearing a headset sits in a cabin seat and reaches forward with one hand, a VR scenario set inside a vehicle cabin. — Richie's Plank VR: a warm-up to prime people for immersion.

Four people sit around a plain table, one wearing a headset and speaking, the others turned toward him, a VR crew-culture scenario. — Yarning Circle: cultural storytelling and open reflection.

Then the carousel

DEIB carousel sessions closed each day: peers exchanging what came up in the headset and co-designing the action steps they would take back to the aircraft.

Three crew members in a crew room, one seated with a floating panel of replies in front of him, two standing, seen through the headset. — Crew in the crew room, replies in view.

A participant wearing a headset stands at the end of a boardroom table, addressing four seated simulated colleagues of different ages, practising inclusive leadership. — Addressing four colleagues around a table.

A woman wearing a headset stands at a service counter by a window and gestures with one hand, a VR service scenario. — At the service counter, headset on.

How the days were paced

36 participants over two days, with the VR modules wrapped in facilitated discussion and reflection rather than run on their own.

Two colleagues stand in an open team area with a floating panel of replies between them, seen through the headset. — Colleagues waiting on the reply you give next.

Lighter first, then the hard part, then talk

Richie's Plank VR served as a lighter warm-up before the more sensitive scenarios.

The Yarning Circle and the carousel gave participants structured time to talk through what came up in VR with each other, rather than leaving that processing to happen informally afterwards.

What participants reported

The pilot's outcomes are what the crew said afterwards, gathered by PTR at the end of the two days.

Two colleagues stand in a lunch area with a floating panel of responses between them, seen through the headset. — Deciding whether to step in, beside a colleague.

Biases they had not considered before

Participants described heightened emotional engagement, empathy and awareness, and said the VR helped them recognise biases they had not previously considered.

They found the scenarios realistic, the learning memorable, and the material safe to engage with.

"It looked real, as if I was really there."

Pilot participant
Etihad Airways cabin crew VR training, February 2024

A woman wearing a headset raises one hand mid-sentence in a room with a rust-red wall and a window onto a city, a VR workplace scenario. — Giving feedback to a team, headset on.

What the pilot recommended

Tailor future VR scenarios to reflect Etihad-specific settings more closely. Set up dedicated VR spaces for greater comfort.

Expand the library with more DEIB scenarios, and add longer-term reinforcement sessions so the two days keep working.

The desks and counters where it shows

Bias in service work lands at a counter, a desk or a gate, on someone in uniform who cannot walk away. These are the rooms PTR builds for that moment.