Why does India have so many female pilots?

Business Daily

BBC

News, Business

4.4 • 796 Ratings

🗓️ 16 January 2023

⏱️ 19 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

At 12.4%, India has the highest percentage of female pilots in the world. In this episode, Olivia Wilson speaks to female pilots and industry experts to find out why India is leading the way and why other countries are so far behind.

We hear about the achievements of Indian commercial airline pilots, Captain Hana Mohsin Khan and Captain Zoya Agarwal, who became the youngest female pilot to fly a Boeing 777 in 2013 and landed a record-breaking flight over the North Pole on the world's longest air route in 2021.

Michele Halleran, a trained pilot and professor at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University in the US, explains the financial and cultural barriers that are in play. Kara Hatzai, the vice president at the International Society of Women Airline Pilots, who provide financial support for women training as pilots, tells us how a scholarship kickstarted her career in the male dominated industry.

Presenter/producer: Olivia Wilson

(Photo: Zoya Agarwal. Credit: Zoya Agarwal)

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0	The comb is back.
0:01.8	This is the comb.
0:03.0	Bringing you more of the African stories that matter.
0:06.1	Every week with the help of the BBC African newsroom, we delve into a different story from the continent.
0:11.8	Search for the comb, wherever you get your BBC podcasts.
0:15.1	The comb.
0:17.2	Hello, welcome to Business Daily on the BBC World Service with me, Olivia Wilson.
0:23.0	On today's program, The Rise of Female Pilots in India, as they lead the way, why are other countries falling behind?
0:30.0	There are huge stereotypes in the roles that men and women still play in the household, right?
0:36.3	I was literally told in my undergrad that women
0:40.3	don't belong in aviation. We'll speak to one woman who became the youngest female pilot to fly a
0:46.8	Boeing triple seven back in 2013. I never thought I'm going to be the world's youngest, but I just went
0:53.0	on giving my best every single day
0:54.6	at my workplace, and I never settled for anything less.
0:58.0	And we'll look at the power of role models, why a lack of them is contributing to a gap
1:02.4	in the number of women applying for pilot positions.
1:05.8	You can't be what you can't see.
1:07.9	So with not a lot of women pilots out there, women still are like,
1:12.3	well, it's not a career for me because it's mostly male dominated. That's all coming up here
1:17.3	on Business Daily. I'm standing right by Manchester Airport in the northwest of England where I'm seeing,
1:30.4	and you're probably hearing, lots of planes as they prepare to take off.
1:35.6	If you're lucky enough to have boarded a plane to go on holiday, you might have wondered who
	...

Please login to see the full transcript.

Previous episode | Next episode

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from BBC, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of BBC and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.