EasyJet acknowledges gender pay gap; to recruit more female pilots by 2020

British airline, easyJet has become the latest company to admit to a gender pay gap, acknowledging the fact that it pays its average UK-based female employee a 50 percent lower salary than the average UK-based male employee.

The low cost airline has said that the average salary for a UK pilot is £92,400. While, members of the cabin crew are paid an average annual salary of £24,800, reported The Independent, the company currently has 1,407 male pilots in the UK, out of which only 86 females are pilots. Women account for 2,002 of all UK cabin crew, while 898 are male.

Overall, this means that men account for 89.3 percent off all employees in the highest pay quartile at the airline, while women account for 68.9 percent of all employees in the lowest. Moreover, for bonus pay, the gaps are 43.8 percent and 32.2 percent respectively. The airline, however, admits that it has addressed the problem of the pay divide repeatedly and maintains that it is an industry problem.

It also reiterated its commitment to encouraging more women to become pilots through a programme called the 'Amy Johnson Initiative'. The airline aims to target for 20 percent of new female entrant pilots by 2020 and recently also named an Airbus A320 jet after the pioneering female aviator.

Earlier last week, the Bank of England revealed a gender pay gap of over 24 percent between the average wage of its male and female staff, owing to a lack of women employees in top positions.

-ANI