In recent years, women have made great strides in what has long been considered male-dominated jobs. Yet, the Air Line Pilots Association International trade union says that globally, less than 6% of all airline pilots are women.
Airlines are now actively encouraging women to become pilots
One of the significant challenges women face working in a male-dominated field like aviation is the need for promotion opportunities. Studies have shown that many male-dominated industries are reluctant to adapt to change, which can impact a company’s resilience and growth.
When women are excluded from specific sectors, it can have a knock-on effect on customers. In recent years, companies have realized this and put much more emphasis on diversifying their hiring practices, openly encouraging women to apply for predominantly male jobs like commercial airline pilots.
India has the largest percentage of female pilots
When you hear what country has the most significant percentage of female airline pilots, it may come as a surprise. Because of equal pay acts, some may automatically assume that it would be the United States, Canada, or one of the Scandinavian countries. While it is true these countries have many female pilots, they fail in comparison to the number of female airline pilots in India.
According to statistics taken from the International Society of Women Airline Pilots (ISWAP) by the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC), 12.4% of all commercial pilots hired by Indian airlines are women. Of the Indian airlines, the largest employer of female pilots is Gurugram-headquartered Indian low-cost regional airline Zooom Air, with nine of its 30 pilots being women.
Indians will spend $410 billion on air travel by 2030
Up to and now again, after the COVID-19 global pandemic, a rising middle class in India is changing the way Indians travel. Globally, the middle class has always been the largest spender, with India’s middle class expected to be the world’s fourth-largest spender on air travel by 2030.
In a report compiled by Booking.com and American multinational strategy and management consulting firm McKinsey & Company published in the Economic Times, they predict that by 2030, the amount of money Indians will spend on travel will be as much as $410 billion.
Another driving force behind the boom in outward Indian travel is the youth factor. The median age in India is 28.2, ten years lower than that of any other major economic power, making India one of the fastest-growing markets for people traveling for business or looking to vacation abroad.
Indian airlines are encouraging women to become pilots
Add to this the fact that 32.3 million Indians live and work outside India, including 8.5 million in the Arab Gulf States alone, and you can see why India is poised for a massive uptick in travel. Indian airlines are aware of the travel trend and are actively encouraging women to train to become commercial pilots to avert a pilot shortage.
IndiGo and SpiceJet are hiring pilots at a blistering pace and already have a significant percentage of women pilots. SpiceJet has even said that in a few years, it expects a third of its pilots to be women.
Photo: British Airways
While this might seem like an almost impossible task, given that the vast majority of pilots are men, you must remember that women in the United States did not get the right to equal pay before President John F. Kennedy signed the Equal Pay Act in 1963. Slowly but surely, women are making up larger segments of the aviation workforce.
Another reason an Indian woman may wish to pursue a career as a commercial airline pilot is that, unlike many jobs in India where there is a gender pay gap, pilots’ pay is the same for both men and women. This is because airline pilots’ pay is dictated by union agreements and is based on a combination of seniority and flight hours.
The airlines with the greatest percentage of female pilots
While some of the data is six years old, Forbes Magazine compiled a list of airlines with the highest percentage of female pilots by percentage. Somewhat interestingly, there are no Indian airlines on the list.
- United Airlines: 7.4% of all pilots are women
- Lufthansa: 7% of all pilots are women
- British Airways: 5.9% of all pilots are women
- Air Canada: 5.5% of all pilots are women
- TUI: 5.3% of all pilots are women
- KLM: 5.2% of all pilots are women
- JetBlue: 5% of all pilots are women
- easyJet: 5% of all pilots are women
- Air New Zealand: 4.7% of all pilots are women
- Delta Air Lines: 4.2% of all pilots are women
- American Airlines: 4.4% of all pilots are women
- Qantas: 4.3% of all pilots are women
- Cathay Pacific: 3.7% of all pilots are women
- Southwest Airlines: 3.6% of all pilots are women
- Virgin Atlantic: 3.2 % of all pilots are women
- Emirates: 1.5% of all pilots are women
- Norwegian: 1% of all pilots are women