EasyJet, the low cost airline, has twice as many female pilots compared to this time two years ago.
They will today announce hiring 49 pilots this year – accounting for 13 per cent of their pilot staff.
This is up from 2015, when only six per cent of their pilots were female.
What’s more, female pilots are set to make up a fifth (20 per cent) of EasyJet’s pilot roster by 2020.
Carolyn McCall, EasyJet’s chief executive, said in a previous statement: “50 years ago almost all professions were dominated by men and over the last five decades there has been significant progress in almost every sector with women entering and attaining senior positions in professions like law, medicine, education, finance and politics.
“However, the proportion has not changed for pilots and it is hard to think of another high profile profession where women are so under-represented.
“We would like to understand why this is and to do what we can to redress the balance.
“We have been encouraged by the success of our Amy Johnson initiative since we launched it in October 2015 and the results so far suggest that the demand from women to become pilots is there.”
Last year, EasyJet’s focus on employing female pilots was announced to the media.
They announced its company-wide target to recruit around 50 women pilots a year.
In the first year of its Amy Johnson Flying Initiative, it recruited 33 new female pilots to begin flying planes/
It was said that the 33 had at that time either started to fly or were due to start a course in the upcoming weeks.
The increase follows the airline’s Amy Johnson Flying Initiative, launched in October 2015, to boost the number of female new entrant pilots to 12 per cent.
This figure makes for an impressive comparison with the rest of the world, where the pilot profession is male dominated.
In fact, globally women only make up three per cent of commercial pilots.
On Emirates Airlines, female pilots last year made up just 58 out of 4000 (1.45 per cent) of the roster.
