AIR COME THE GIRLS
One in 5 pilots to be women
EASYJET last night vowed to make one in five of its pilots women.
The British-based budget airline wants 20% of its cockpit recruits to be female by 2020.
And the carrier has already doubled its proportion of girl pilot trainees to 12% in just two years.
Chief executive Carolyn McCall yesterday unveiled an easyJet plane named after pioneering female aviator Amy Johnson.
She said: “Fifty years ago almost all professions were dominated by men and over the last five decades there has been significant progress in almost every sector.
“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.”
EasyJet currently has 164 women pilots. One of them is 26-year-old Kate McWilliams, the youngest airline pilot in the world, who started her commercial flying training aged just 19.
She admitted there are a few raised eyebrows when passengers realise a woman is on the flight deck but she added: “I never take it personally.”
And former England women’s rugby star Kate Newton is also an easyJet pilot. The 26-year-old said: “My dad is a pilot, my grandfather was a pilot and my great grandfather flew in the First World War.”
Only 3% – just 4,000 – of the world’s 130,000 airline pilots are female.