Shashi Tharoor with Captain Sarita Srinivas (image: x.com/ShashiTharoor/)

Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala: In a post on X, Congress MP Shashi Tharoor recounted his meeting with Captain Sarita Srinivas on his return flight to Thiruvananthapuram after attending former Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh’s funeral. Tharoor said he had a “great pleasure of being flown by, and meeting,” the Captain. Commissioned in 1992, Captain Srinivas is considered as one of the country’s, and certainly Kerala’s first female commercial pilots.

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Taking to X, Tharoor wrote, “On the way back to Thiruvananthapuram from the funeral, had a great pleasure of being flown by, and meeting, one of the country’s (and certainly Kerala’s) first female commercial pilots, Captain Sarita Srinivas, who was commissioned in 1992. She tells me that today women account for 18% of India’s pilots, the highest proportion in the world — something Indians can truly be proud of!”

On the way back to Thiruvananthapuram from the funeral, had a great pleasure of being flown by, and meeting, one of the country’s (and certainly Kerala’s) first female commercial pilots, Captain Sarita Srinivas, who was commissioned in 1992. She tells me that today women account… pic.twitter.com/zlde6ik4ri

— Shashi Tharoor (@ShashiTharoor) December 29, 2024

As per the data submitted by the Ministry of Civil Aviation in the Parliament last month, one in every seven pilots employed in six major Indian airlines is a woman and IndiGo attains the top spot in the list.

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Though IndiGo possess highest number of female pilots, Alliance Air has the highest percentage of women pilots at 17.36 percent – 25 women out of 144 total pilots, while former’s percentage stands at 15.28 percent.

Among the other domestic flights, Air India employs 15.62 per cent women pilots – 541 out of 3462 total pilots, SpiceJet has 16.39 per cent – 61 out of 372 total pilots – and Air India Express has 12.96 per cent, the lowest spot – 119 out of 1,774 total pilots. SNV Aviation has 14.01 per cent women pilots – 119 out of 849 total pilots, Ministry informed the Lok Sabha.