SKY Airline informed that 13.5% of its pilot workforce are women, a significant achievement for the Chilean ultra low-cost airline considering that the global average, according to IATA figures, is 5%.
“This has to do with more women daring to study this career, shedding the past prejudices that being a pilot was a profession only for men. We can all do it”, commented Natalia Ambel, SKY pilot for six years.
The data was released on July 26, the day Chile celebrates Women’s Pilot Day in honor of Graciela Cooper Godoy, the first woman to receive a license to fly in Chile, in 1930.
The company has been carrying out various initiatives to encourage the participation of women in the airline industry and to inspire new generations of girls. In March of this year, SKY signed a voluntary commitment with the Ministry of Women and Gender Equity of Chile to keep the proportion of women pilots above the global average, projecting to reach 15% in 2025 and 20% in 2026.
“We want to bring communities closer, in this case, new generations of girls, so they can see what we do at SKY, to show them that there are no limits when it comes to choosing to be pilots. This initiative is added to others that we have been taking over time and we have seen how female participation in our airline is on the rise”, adds Mayra Kohler, Corporate Affairs and Sustainability Manager at SKY.
In this context, together with the Ingeniosas Foundation, a group of 20 girls from the Sagrada Familia 585 School in Quinta Normal visited SKY’s base at Santiago airport to see the workshops, the planes, and meet a company pilot with the aim of “inspiring them and breaking down stereotypes around the aviation industry.”
“This activity that we did in partnership with SKY allows us to show girls that if other women could be pilots, we all can. It is very important to reach out to children because that is where we can change perceptions about the prejudices or stereotypes that exist about careers related to science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM)”, says Gabriela Castillo, executive director of Ingeniosas Foundation.
Globally, IATA leads an initiative called 25by2025, which aims for 25% of executive positions and sectors with low representation (such as pilots and maintenance) to be occupied by women by 2025. Nearly 200 airlines and supplier companies have already signed this commitment, including Aerolíneas Argentinas, Aeroméxico, Air Europa, American Airlines, Avianca, Azul, Copa Airlines, Delta, Embraer, EANA, ANAC Brasil, HiSky, Iberia, JetSMART, LATAM, SKY, Vueling, and Volaris.
