EasyJet woos woman pilots

A surge in applications to its Amy Johnson flying initiative has led easyJet to double the number of its new-entrant woman fliers and set a new target of ensuring 20% of new-entrant cadet pilots recruited by the airline in 2020 are women. 

The company says based on current recruitment plans, this would mean easyJet would be taking on some 50 woman pilots a year, against a world backdrop of only 3% of commercial airline pilots being women and only 450 of them being captains.

EasyJet currently has 164 woman pilots in total, of whom 62 are captains – around 14% of the world’s total. More than 30 recruited under the Amy Johnson programme have either started to fly or are assigned courses starting shortly.

The airline launched its flying initiative in October 2015 with the aim of doubling the number of female new-entrant pilots to 12% over two years. More than 600 applied, meaning the target was achieved in year one.

In recognition of the recruitment milestone, easyJet chief executive Carolyn McCall last week unveiled an aircraft named after the renowned woman aviator Amy Johnson. It will fly across the easyJet network to generate awareness of the initiative. 

www.easyjet.com

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