Learn about the types of people who become commercial pilots. This page goes into detail about the employment, gender, and ethnic ratios of the workplace.
Employment Type Mix, 2024
91% of commercial pilots work in full-time roles while 9% work part-time.
Gender Mix By Career Interest, 2024
This graph shows the distribution of females and males that are interested in becoming a commercial pilot. Four or five star ratings on CareerExplorer indicate interest.
More men than women are interested in becoming commercial pilots at a ratio of 4.78 to 1.
Actual Gender Mix, 2024
12% of commercial pilots are female and 88% are male.
Gender Bias, 2024
This is one of the most compelling statistics we collect. Gender bias shows the difference between gender interest in being a commercial pilot and the actual gender mix of people in the career.
If there is a significant difference, then it means there is a gender imbalance between those interested in becoming a commercial pilot and those who end up becoming one.
In this case there are more women interested in becoming a commercial pilot than those actually working as one. It is hard to pinpoint the exact reasons why, but there are likely various forces at play, from changing interests over time to societal norms and biases.
Ethnic Mix, 2019
The largest ethnic group of commercial pilots are White, making up 67% of the population. The next highest segments are Other and South Asian, making up 9% and 6% respectively.