Nelly Diener

Nelly Hedwig Diener (1912 to 1934) was a Swiss flight attendant, recorded as the first female flight attendant in Europe. She began flying for Swissair on 1 May 1934 and became known as the Engel der Lueften, the Angel of the Skies. Her career was brief: on 27 July 1934 she died in the Swissair Tuttlingen accident, together with the other two crew members and nine passengers. Elsewhere the cabin role has its own firsts: Heinrich Kubis is recorded as the first flight attendant of either gender and Ellen Church as the first female flight attendant. Her name is kept in the history of passenger air travel as a marker of how cabin service for women began on European airlines.