British Airways is a global airline, the flagship carrier for the United Kingdom. They bring people, places and diverse cultures closer together, and have done for more than 100 years. They have a workforce of over 30,000 dedicated colleagues globally, and their main operating hub is Heathrow Airport. Considering themselves as innovators within aviation, they were the first airline to introduce the fully-flat bed within business class.
With the legacy of an established company, it does come with challenges, such as diversity where aviation is an industry that attracts multigenerational talent. Particularly in flying roles, it can also have perceived lifestyle challenges such as long periods away from home being seen as not suitable for female colleagues; as well as extortionate training costs which makes it an unachievable career for many.
British Airways’ goal is to make a career in flying more accessible, and to diversify their pilot community, which is mostly made up of white, middleclass males – currently aligned to the wider industry average.
In light of these challenges, the new Speedbird Pilot Academy was launched – a fully-funded training programme for future pilots with a permanent position post-training. To accompany this training programme, an outreach and engagement strategy was needed to create a sustainable talent pipeline, ensuring that the right beneficiaries have access to these opportunities, as well as levelling the playing field. “Your Flying Future” was created, an interactive workshop that would inspire talent that may not have considered flying as a career, with workshops giving students aged 14-25 the confidence, knowledge and skills to thrive in the recruitment process. The workshop is a joint collaboration between the British Airways Emerging Talent team, as well as the British Airways Flight Operations team. The programme has had fantastic buy-in from both senior-stakeholders as well as the pilot community, with all pilots involved volunteering their time to give back to the next generation.
Hosting up to 1,000 students annually, they have now hosted 1,554 students on the workshop, where on average, 32% of our attendees are female, 62% are of ethnic minority, and the partner schools we promote to have attendance all have extremely high levels of Free School Meals. The workshops are currently in-person, and there are ambitions to create a virtual offering for those that cannot attend in-person. This opportunity is part of British Airways corporate school outreach strategy and portfolio, and is pushed out to students engaged with through their “Inspire” programme, where 110,000 students were engaged with in 2024 alone. Inspire works with schools in high levels of deprivation in our key operating hubs across the UK, making careers in aviation accessible to all.
Through the Speedbird Pilot Academy, intakes have increased to 20% females and 21% of an ethnic minority background.
