India has most woman pilots in world, its 'efficiently women'ed:' Puri

In a fitting tribute to Indian woman workforce in the aviation sector on International Women’s Day on March 8, Union Civil Aviation Minister Hardeep Singh Puri said India tops in the proportion of woman pilots in the world.

In a tweet, he said Indian carriers employed close to 12.4 per cent woman pilots, which is much higher than the world average of 5.4 per cent.

In a series of tweets, the Minister said 210 women pilots, including 103 captains, were a part of the Air India family. “Air India is efficiently women-ed by 507 women Air Traffic Controllers,” he tweeted.

“Indian women have been at the forefront to fight the battle against COVID-19. Swati Raval was the Captain of the Air India flight that brought back 263 passengers trapped in Rome during the lockdown,” he said.

In January this year, Air India’s longest direct route flight with the all-woman team landed at Kempegowda International Airport in Bengaluru from San Francisco, flying over the North Pole and covering a distance of about 16,000 km. “We are extremely happy and proud to be part of it. This route has saved 10 tonnes of fuel,” Captain Zoya Aggarwal had said.

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“PM Modi ji’s visionary scheme of providing housing by 2022 is a big boost for the empowerment of women in India. Houses being provided under the scheme are in the name of the lady of the house or co-owned jointly, thus providing a life of confidence and dignity to womenfolk,” said the minister.

Women’s participation in the field of aviation has increased over the years. The Women of Aviation Worldwide Week (WOAW) is a global aviation awareness week for girls of all ages and marks the anniversary of the world’s first female pilot licence (March 8, 1910). It reported that women flying commercial airlines in India make up 20.6% of all pilots. The global number of women airline pilots is 5%.

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In Indian Air Force too, woman pilots have steadily marked their entry. An all-woman crew of the IAF on May 27, 2019 flew a medium-lift helicopter Mi-17 V5 for the first time in India. The crew comprising flight lieutenant Parul Bhardwaj (Captain), flying officer Aman Nidhi (co-pilot) and flight lieutenant Hina Jaiswal (Flight Engineer) took off from a forward air base in South Western Air Command.

“The all-woman crew flew a Mi-17 V5 helicopter for a Battle Inoculation Training mission taking off and landing from restricted areas at a forward air base in South Western air command,” a defence release had said.