FAA Requires Airlines To Certify Merit-Based Pilot Hiring

The Federal Aviation Administration will require U.S. commercial airlines to certify that pilot hiring is based on merit, a step announced Friday by Transportation Secretary Sean P. Duffy to be issued through a mandatory operations specification. The agency said carriers that do not provide certification could face a federal investigation.

Airlines will certify their hiring practices by accepting and operating under FAA Operations Specification A134, demonstrating to their principal inspector that pilot hiring is merit-based and aligned with required qualifications and safety standards, after which the FAA will formally issue the OpSpec as an amendment to the carrier’s certificate.

Directive And Federal Rationale

“When families board their aircraft, they should fly with confidence knowing the pilot behind the controls is the best of the best,” Duffy said. “The American people don’t care what their pilot looks like or their gender—they just care that they are most qualified man or woman for the job.”

He added the measure is intended to increase transparency between airlines and passengers. The measure comes following other measures from the White House aimed towards discouraging or ending DEI programs in the federal government and elsewhere.

FAA Administrator Bryan Bedford said in the same announcement that “it is a bare minimum expectation for airlines to hire the most qualified individual when making someone responsible for hundreds of lives at a time,” adding that “someone’s race, sex, or creed, has nothing to do with their ability to fly and land aircraft safely.”

Capt. Jason Ambrosi, president of the Air Line Pilots Association (ALPA), noted in a statement on Friday that all the association’s pilots legally operating Part 121 commercial airline flights must be fully trained, tested and qualified by the same standards in order to perform their duties.

“All ALPA pilots are trained and evaluated to the same uncompromising standard regardless of race, gender, or background,” Ambrosi said. “A pilot’s identity has no bearing on their ability to safely operate an aircraft. What matters is training, experience, and qualification — and on that front, there are no shortcuts and no compromises.”

Although all pilots in airline operations must be fully qualified for their jobs, candidates can be viewed by employers as “more” or “less” competitive depending on factors like the type, quality and quantity of flying they have done prior to being hired, or the number of times a candidate received a Notice of Disapproval during past checkrides before before retaking and passing, for example.

Industry Response And Workforce Context

Airlines for America said in a statement that “safety is, and always will be, the top priority for U.S. airlines,” adding that its members “comply with all federal regulations and laws, including those related to qualifications, training and licensing.”

Federal data shows those in the U.S. qualified to work as airline pilots are overwhelmingly male. The FAA’s 2024 Civil Airmen Statistics report about 94.5% of ATP holders are male and 5.5% are female.

United Airlines said in 2021 it aimed to help train 5,000 new pilots by 2030 with at least half women or people of color, and that at the time about 7% of its roughly 12,000 pilots were women and 13% were people of color.

According to the most recent demographics available from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics in 2024, 88.3% of those employed as pilots are white and 9.6% are women. It is worth noting that not all professional pilots work for airlines or necessarily hold an ATP. According to the 2024 Civil Airman Statistics report, about 10.1% of commercial certificate holders are women.

Academic research has also examined how hiring perceptions can affect aviation careers. A 2024 Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University study published in the journal Technology in Society found that study participants were more likely to select white males for pilot roles when evaluating images of potential aviation job candidates. Researchers wrote that “a conspicuous gender-based bias was evident, with males predominantly selected for piloting roles,” and added that “from an ethnic perspective, Caucasians were more frequently envisaged as pilots,” while other groups were more often associated with non-piloting positions.

Compliance Timeline

The FAA notice establishing OpSpec A134 became effective Feb. 13, and inspectors must notify affected airlines within two business days before issuing the amendment after reviewing any materials the airline submits. Once issued, the OpSpec becomes binding about 30 days after notification, giving airlines roughly a month to comply.