In this article, Rachel Gardner-Poole OBE, Chief Sustainability & Growth Officer at EmPower Flight, discusses the importance of diversity in training when it comes to the future of aviation.
When people talk about the future of aviation, they usually begin with technology. Cleaner fuels, electric aircraft, drones, more modern and efficient aircraft which all play a significant role. However, technology alone will not get us where we need to be.
The future of aviation starts at grassroot level – for example, in training rooms, briefing rooms and everyday conversations. The industry will be shaped by who is encouraged into it, those who feel they belong once they get there, and by the culture they experience from the outset.
Why training academies are responsible for reducing entry barriers
For many, aviation still looks exciting from the outside but is not necessarily accessible. My own love of aviation began when I was a child, hearing about humanitarian flying and how aircraft could be used to help people living in remote places in the world. To me, aviation had real purpose.
However, at the same time, it felt like an impossible dream. I had not even been on an aircraft until I was an adult, and learning to fly seemed too expensive and almost not worth considering. Unfortunately, this is a feeling many people still experience today and is why flight training schools are essential in helping to overcome this.
For aspiring pilots or cabin crew, training academies are the first stepping stone to a fulfilling career. It is where trainees develop their understanding of aviation, build foundational skills, and often have their first proper experience of the industry. Flight training schools can build confidence, or chip away at it. They can demonstrate opportunities or convince people that aviation is not for them.
How to balance a male-dominated industry
We can’t ignore the diversity challenge when thinking about the future of aviation. Things have improved as there are certainly more women in aviation compared to when I first started. There are more visible role models, and far more people prepared to talk seriously about inclusion. But women are still the minority in the cockpit, and I do not believe it is for lack of interest, ability or ambition. In my view, it is because barriers to entry still exist.
These challenges can be down to costs and accessibility, whilst others are more subtle and, in some ways, more difficult. Early in my own journey, people told me women should not be pilots. I was told I might faint if I flew and flying was not suitable for a woman. I was discouraged from applying for a promotion at work, in case it took the opportunity away from a male colleague. Comments like these are far less acceptable now, thankfully, but by no means has the problem disappeared.
Some of the bias women face today is simply quieter. It shows up in assumptions, microaggressions and the lingering sense that you still need to prove you belong. Not always in one dramatic moment, but in smaller events that accumulate over time, which can be harder to spot and therefore, harder to address.
A positive training culture translates to a stronger industry
Ensuring a positive culture in aviation training is essential. People in training learn more than procedures, they notice how they are spoken to, whether questions are welcomed and how mistakes are handled. They acknowledge who is encouraged or overlooked, and whether inclusion is something real or just a nice sentence in a brochure.
What someone experiences in training does not stop there. Graduates carry it into their first job, their first team and eventually into the way they treat others. Aviation training providers are not just preparing people to enter the industry; they are helping shape the culture people will carry into it.
How sustainability contributes to a better future
Flight training schools must not lose sight of sustainability. Many providers understandably focus on what is required by the regulator, particularly around safety and security.
Those elements are essential, but training must go further. Flight training schools should include a sustainability module and discuss practical steps crew can take in their day-to-day duties. For instance, introducing concepts such as single-engine taxi, where safe to do so, much earlier than many pilots might otherwise encounter them is key. For me, sustainability is also about mindset: if people are trained early to think about environmental responsibility, it is more likely to come naturally later in live operations, including when there is pressure around time, passengers and commercial realities.
Sustainability, inclusion and good culture must be part of the conversation early, not an afterthought. If aviation is to have a strong future, we need to think about people earlier.
For me, that is where change really starts.
