Hello and welcome to today's independent travel podcast with me, Simon Calder.

It's the first 29th of February podcast ever.

We weren't around four years ago doing this and it's the last one also for four years,

but it's a very special one.

Yesterday I was talking to Amy Leversich, who is the General

Secretary of the British Airlines Pilots Association. If you were kind enough to listen, you would

have heard her say that she is doing what she can to encourage a better gender balance between

men and women on the flight deck.

And, well, that is already happening.

The simulator hall at Heathrow Airport that belongs to British Airways, where 100 new recruits for the Flight Academy are today coming along with their families

to really start their new lives.

Two years of training, a remarkable investment by British Airways.

And I'm now delighted to be joined by three of the successful candidates in the British Airways Speedbird Pilot Academy.

I have with me, Jasmine, Maria and Lux. So let's go in that order. Jasmine,

how did you get this gig? It's an amazing achievement. I mean, they've allowed me to realize a dream

that I never thought I'd be able to otherwise achieve. And when I first applied, I applied on a whim.

And I'm just very fortunate to have progressed through the stages and to be here today.

And what was the selection process like?

It was tough, definitely, alongside work and travelling to Heathrow,

and just the tremendous pressure because we knew how much was at stake.

But it was very thorough, it was very professional and they looked after us very well

during every stage. Maria, here you are as well. What's your, has being a pilot always been an

...