Air bp, a global aviation fuel products and service supplier, has confirmed that its eighth Sterling Pilot Scholar is Mollie Wadsworth.
Wadsworth from Bingley, Yorkshire is currently undertaking her private pilot’s licence (PPL) at Yorkshire Aviation Academy at Leeds East Airport. She is Air bp’s fourth female scholar.
With a passion for aviation as long as she can remember, Wadsworth started plane spotting at about nine years old, she joined the Air Cadets at 12 years, and took her first flight at age 13 at the RAF Linton-on-Ouse airport base.
She hopes to complete her PPL by the end of September this year and to eventually go on to complete her airline transport pilot’s licence (ATPL), work as a commercial airline pilot and fly the Airbus A350.
Air bp’s Sterling Pilot Scholarship offers young aviators like Wadsworth the opportunity to start their journey to become a pilot.
“I feel honoured and so fortunate to have been chosen and would like to thank Air bp for the opportunity. I love that through doing this scholarship, I will learn so much more about a subject that I am so passionate about, while gaining confidence and resilience, and fulfilling a lifelong dream. As a woman, I hope that I can encourage other aspiring young pilots to apply for scholarships like Air bp’s and follow their dreams in an industry where female pilots are so underrepresented,” said Wadsworth.
The percentage of women airline pilots globally is only 5.8% but growing. In the UK the share increased from 4.3% in 2016 to 4.9% in 2021 (source: CAA), while the figure for the US increased from 4.4% in 2017 to 4.9% in 2022.
“I would like to congratulate Mollie on being our eighth scholar and fourth female to be selected. Air bp is committed to encouraging young people like Mollie to join the aviation industry and programmes like ours are one way in which we can do that. Given the low rates of female pilots, we are even more excited to announce this news as it aligns with one of Air bp’s aims to promote diversity, equity and inclusion across the sector. I wish Mollie every success with her PPL and future career,” said Federica Berra, senior vice president, Air bp.
Air bp works with the Honourable Company of Air Pilots (HCAP) to organise the Air bp Sterling Pilot Scholarship because of its excellence in promoting the availability of scholarships to a wide public audience and its history of conducting a rigorous and fair selection process.
Air bp’s Sterling Pilot Scholarship is named after its globally recognised fuel payment card, the Sterling card.
The Sterling card provides easy access to fuel for thousands of clients and makes life simpler for private pilots, aircraft management companies and corporate flight departments at any of Air bp’s 700 locations globally.
