AirAsia has announced the resumption of its Cadet Pilot Programme after a two-year hiatus during the pandemic, as it gets all its planes up in the skies once again.
The Cadet Pilot Programme is a special 24-month long course curated to equip future pilots with the training and credentials they need to be captains of the skies. The programme, incepted in 2004, has taken in many aspiring female cadets who have since gone on to become First Officers, Senior First Officers and Captains with AirAsia.
It has also invited more women to sign up for the programme and add to the airline’s growing number of female pilots. More than a decade ago, AirAsia became the first airline in ASEAN to open the door for a female pilot with Captain Norashikin Onn, who also became the first female commercial pilot in Malaysia. It has since gone on to recruit 157 female pilots across the group including AirAsia Indonesia’s Captain Monika Anggreini, and Captain Suwapich Wongwiriyawanich, who started as a cabin crew member before becoming the first female captain of an Airbus 330 in Thailand.
AirAsia furloughed many of its pilots and crew during the painful pandemic period, with many ending up doing odd jobs just to make ends meet. Reports of pilots driving ehailing cars and baking emerged with some even becoming successful in their new found talents.
