easyJet to recruit more female pilots

In a male dominated profession, female pilots are scarce. Worldwide, approximately 3 percent of all pilots are women. In the UK, of the 3500 pilots British Airways employs, 200 are female. Lastly, amongst budget airlines, merely 5 percent of all pilots are female. Overall, these figures show, that even 40 years after the first female pilot began flying for a commercial airline, there are still very few women filling those seats.

British low-cost airline easyJet wants to change this. The Luton-based carrier has announced initiatives to increase the amount of female pilots to 12 percent. This would be double the current amount. Some of these initiatives include targeting schools for increased advertising as well as an enhanced mentoring program for female pilots in training.

Brian Tyrrell, easyJet's head of flight operations stated: “We recognise that the proportion of our pilots who are female is too low, as it is across the industry as a whole. A career as a pilot is interesting and rewarding and we want more women to bring their skills to the role. Our initial focus will be to increase the pipeline of female pilots, including by talking to young women who may not have considered it as a career”

Written by: Flight-Delayed