India boasts highest ratio of women airline pilots

India has the highest ratio of women airline pilots worldwide at 12.4 per cent, compared to about five per cent globally, Xinhua news agency quoted local media as reporting Wednesday. 

According to English daily The Times of India, the number of women pilots has nearly doubled over the past four years.  At present, there are 1,092 women pilots in India out of the total 8,797, as compared to 586 out of the total 5,050 pilots in 2014. 

Quoting figures from the International Society of Women Airline Pilots, the report said there were 7,409 women pilots worldwide, which was just 5.2 per cent of the total pilot workforce.  Also, India is said to have witnessed the maximum growth in the number of women commercial pilots in recent times. 

India’s official carrier Air India, too, boasts active participation of women pilots as there are about 280 women pilots in the airline, representing nearly 12.8 per cent of its entire pilot workforce.