Better Work/Life Policies Key to Increasing Women Pilots Part II

The dearth of women airline pilots was brought into high relief last week by Captain Tammie Jo Shultz who safely landed her Southwest 737, stricken by an uncontained engine failure and the death of a passenger. As explained in Part I, work rules are a big reason there are so few women flying the line. But a second reason is the fact that airlines are behind other industries in promoting women into management.

Women pilots are advocating for changing employment policies in an effort to attract more women to aviation and to becoming pilots. It turns out, however, their work is ideally timed to bring airlines up to speed when it comes to the needs of employees. Those employees are now in the driver’s seat thanks to a growing pilot shortage which means their demands for better work/life balances will have to be met. In a shift from the past, they care as much about quality of life issues as they do about pay as explained in Part 1.

A reflection of how important such issues are, is the growing number of companies are now offering paid leave. The National Partnership for Women & Families said 14% of all employees are covered by such policies.

A Numbers Game

“The number of female pilots jumped dramatically from 4,218 in 1960 to 26,896 in 1980,” according to USA Today, citing Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) statistics of all pilots licenses, not just those for airlines.

Girls are interested in pursing pilot careers. Kelly Harris said her daughter, Arlynn, was more in the Orlando Women in Aviation Conference than going to DisneyWorld.

Declining pilot numbers is not unique to women since the number of men pursuing pilots’ licenses has dropped on rising costs. Achieving the right seat of an airliner costs about $150,000. Beyond that, new rules driven by a single union in order to create a pilot shortage, are a significant barriers to entry, forestalling the start of their career by years.

Boeing forecast a need for 600,000 pilots by 2036. In fact, the crisis will come much sooner, according to Cowen Securities Analyst Helane Becker.

“By the end of 2026, ~42% of the active pilot workforce at the five largest airlines will retire,” she wrote. “On average, American leads the industry in pilot retirements with ~790 retiring each year from now through 2026.”

To put that in perspective, speakers at the World Airline Training Conference last week said airlines will have to hire 70 new pilots per day just to meet current demand.

But it is not just in the cockpit that airlines are facing major challenges. An article in The Harvard Business Review noted millennials will make up 75% of the workforce in a decade and 78% of those will be two-career couples.

“I think the airlines benefit from flexible policies,” said McCullough. “Gratitude goes a long way. Women are very loyal.”

But it is more than that. “Male pilots at my regional airline are grateful there is a committee to help,” said Captain A. “I had a captain call me for guidance. After his co-pilot excused herself to express milk, he wanted to make sure he was doing the right thing and asked advice on how he could help her. That shows me our male pilots care.”

While airlines are slowly changing, the women suggest such efforts make it look as if the women pilots are making more progress than they actually are. However, Captain Jolanda Witvliet reported United is a progressive carrier when it comes to parental leave for pilots.

“For example,” she continued. “The moment a pilot starts at United, they are entitled to at least nine months of maternity/paternity leave. This is a great relief for new hires who worry about starting a job at a new company and needing time off to be able to witness the birth of their child and support their spouse when the baby comes home. If a pilot adopts a child, they are entitled to the same length of leave and the company reimburses up to $2,000 in adoption expenses.”

Witvliet, who used to run the ALPA/United new hire pilot mentor program, thinks women pilots mentoring other female pilots, especially in management, is crucial to getting more women involved.

"A year-long study of engineering students at the University of Massachusetts, found female students who had female engineering mentors felt more motivated, were less likely to drop out, felt more self-assured, and were more likely to look for engineering jobs,” she said. "We should establish partnerships to create effective, long-lasting, active female pilot mentor programs throughout the airline industry, unions, and individual airlines." 

“Flexibility is the key on leave policies – and listening – because every situation is different,” McCullough explained. “Pilots should also be able to take assignments on the ground. I loved working in the simulator or office while I was pregnant. The airline invests an exorbitant amount of money in every pilot. It can’t afford to lose any pilot mid-career.”

Getting more women in leadership

A major goal for women pilots is increasing women managers beyond the traditional female ghettos of PR, HR and Inflight Service.

In fact, studies show the airline track record is dismal. A recent Flightglobal report showed there are only four women airline CEOs in the world.

Citing a global leadership study of 10,000 businesses – Grant Thornton's 2017 Women in Business – Flightglobal stated:

“Gender diversity at airline groups does not improve significantly across other senior positions. Indeed, 57 of the airline groups in the top 100 had no women employed in any of the six roles surveyed: chief executive, chief financial officer, chief operating officer, chief commercial officer, chief information officer and HR director. In absolute numbers, 600 roles were surveyed across the top 100 airline groups; just 64 were taken by women, or 11%. Removing the HR director function from the survey halves the number of women, to just 32 of 500 roles, or 6%.”

Source: Flightglobal data

“Sixty years ago, other fields including medicine, law, business, and engineering were male industries,” said Captain C. “Today, they’ve had steady increases of women in leadership, while the airlines have been stagnant for decades. We can do the same in the aviation industry by improving family policies, increasing outreach to young women and encouraging leadership participation.”

Source: Flightglobal

Regional Airline Leads the Way

One regional airline has already adopted the policies, pilots at major airlines still seek.

Pilots at the regional formed a Women’s Assistance Committee founded by Captain A and her colleague First Officer L, which was supported by both male and female pilots. The two pilots were joined by a host of volunteers to develop a handbook to attract and retain women pilots. They now speak to each new-hire class which has the added benefit of raising the consciousness of male colleagues.

Captain A said retention was a huge part of the reason for their efforts. “We’ve had pilots quit because they couldn’t get an extension on their unpaid maternity leave and that is not good for anyone after an airline has invested in training that pilot,” she said. “By educating them we show young female pilots that being a mom and a pilot is possible and already a reality for many here.”

The handbook discusses all the issues surrounding starting a family while pursuing a career, including planning a family, insurance, returning to work and tips on pumping on the road. It also covers scheduling techniques to be home more or nurse better along with sections on child care. There are also articles on post-partum depression and exposure to radiation while pregnant. The pamphlet is supported by chief pilots and is now at all domiciles.

“We wanted to address the issues women may face head on because they need to plan if they want a family,” said Captain A. “It was a shock when I went on maternity leave and lost my insurance. That never occurred to me. I was able to go on my husband’s but still you lose your paycheck and your insurance. So, planning has to start a year ahead to have disability insurance in place.”

The committee created a mentoring program teaming women pilots with new hires. “At first, we weren't taken seriously by the pilots association,” she said, “but we showed perseverance and we created the first and only female pilot mentoring committee in the US airline industry. We’ve already mentored over 20 pilots and now have an online support group with a phone chat app through slack.com.”

The airline recently adopted the proposed policies which allow 12 months unpaid post-birth leave. That was after it was presented to the airline’s collective bargaining unit which was 100% supportive of the changes.

It is clear that management ranks across the board suffer from the same numbers game as pilots and it is long past due for that to change. It is also clear that workforce issues are not necessarily women’s issues and with the pilot shortage, airlines and unions have to step up.

It has been nearly half a century since the first woman began her airline flight duties. The stars may now be aligning to make significant family policy changes especially as millennials become the majority and pilot shortages threaten the ability of airlines to staff the cockpits of all the aircraft they have on order. Those that change policies and promote more women into management will prosper.

Afton Kurek's ambitions were clear when she attended the Girls in Aviation Day at the 2017 Women in Aviation Conference.