Former SIA flight attendant's journey from cabin to cockpit

Captain is one of 61 female pilots at SIA and Scoot who make up 1.9% of the group's pilots

- Esther Loi

In 2004, then Singapore Airlines flight attendant Vanessa Khaw regularly entered the cockpit to hand the pilots their meals.

Catching the astonishing sight of the sunrise from the flight deck inspired her dreams of becoming a pilot, to see those views every day.

Now a pilot of 15 years with SIA's budget airline Scoot and Tigerair, which was merged with Scoot, Captain Khaw flies Airbus A320 and A321 narrow-body planes, and was appointed a flight instructor half a year ago, training pilots who join the airline.

While she has already achieved the rank of a captain, she said: "I'm still constantly improving and thinking about what's next which is why I went on to apply to be a flight instructor. It's another challenge for me to take on, and I'm enjoying it."

The 41-year-old is one of 61 female pilots at SIA and Scoot who make up 1.9 per cent of SIA Group's 3,245 pilots, according to the group's latest Sustainability Report covering April 2023 to March 2024.

This is marginally higher than the 1.6 per cent from April 2022 to March 2023, and 1.4 per cent from April 2021 to March 2022, and almost on a par with Jetstar Asia, where about 2 per cent of its 128 pilots are women.

While more women here are becoming commercial pilots, their numbers lag behind other countries'.

In India, 14.4 per cent of its pilots are women, according to national civil aviation statistics for the period from 2022 to 2023. At Australia's national carrier Qantas, women currently make up around 7.5 per cent of the pilots.