A fifth of new pilots flying with Britain’s biggest budget airline will be women, easyJet is to announce today.
The carrier will pledge to ensure that 20 per cent of new pilot recruits are women by the end of the decade, up from 6 per cent.
Aviation remains one of the most male dominated professions, with women making up only 3 per cent of commercial pilots worldwide. Only 450 have achieved the rank of captain.
Luton-based easyJet wants to recruit 50 female pilots a year through an extension of its Amy Johnson Flying Initiative, named after the pioneering 1930s aviator, which has led to 33 female pilots being recruited in the past year.
All cadets trained by the airline are put through simulator training on its Airbus A320 fleet, rising to a “significant” number of real flying hours alongside a qualified captain.
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Kate McWilliams, 26, an easyJet pilot, became what is believed to be the world’s youngest commercial female airline captain in September.
Dame Carolyn McCall, easyJet chief executive, said: “Fifty years ago almost all professions were dominated by men and in the past 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’d like to do what we can to redress the balance.”