Virgin announces new 50-50 gender target for pilot training

Virgin announces new 50-50 gender target for pilot training

Virgin Australia has set a 50-50 gender target for its Pilot Cadetship Program!

We love a good gender equality story to start our Monday morning. Or any morning, really.

Which is why at Travel Weekly, along with our Women in Travel Awards, we’re also supporting events like Changing the Ratio to promote inclusion, diversity and the promotion of women in all industries.

It’s an inspiring extravaganza, packed with captivating speakers like Lisa Wilkinson (!!), refugee-turned-lawyer Deng Thiak Adut and George McEncroe, founder of women’s rideshare service Shebah.

Anyway, that’s enough self-promotion, back to Virgin Australia’s big announcement.

In a statement, the airline outlined its target of an equal intake of males and females for its 2018 Pilot Cadetship program, ensuring female representation is increased in male-dominated areas of the aviation industry.

The announcement comes as Virgin Australia launches the next round of recruitment for its Pilot Cadetship Program.

Virgin Australia’s pilot cadetship is a 54-week program conducted at world-class training facility, Flight Training Adelaide in South Australia, where cadets are trained by some of the best instructors in the industry.

At the end of their training, the cadets will graduate with a Commercial Pilot Licence and will be offered roles as certified First and Second Officers with Virgin Australia.

“Investing in the future of our next generation of pilots is a top priority,” Virgin Australia Group Executive People, Lucinda Gemmell said.

“In what’s typically a male dominated area of the industry, we’re encouraging more females to consider aviation as a career and apply for this excellent program.”

“Globally, just three per cent of pilots are women. Our previous pilot cadetships have had up to 50 per cent females so we’re confident we can reach this target this year.”

“Aviation is an exciting industry and we can’t wait to welcome the next generation of Virgin Australia pilots when they commence their cadetship”

This year, Virgin Australia is offering places for two ab-initio courses, designed for those with no flying experience.

Virgin Australia is accepting applications on its website from today until 3 June 2018, for courses commencing in January and June of 2019.

Find out what a day in the life of a Virgin Australia Pilot Cadet is like by watching this video here.

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