Inclusion and Diversity (I&D) is at the heart of our strategy to transform our business and become a better BA. We know diverse teams supported by an inclusive culture create better results. Our I&D strategy ‘Inclusion Starts with I’ was launched in October 2023 establishing our priority areas and initiatives. In 2025, close to 100% of our colleagues completed I&D e-learning to support education and awareness, focusing on topics such as bias and leadership.
We were delighted to be recognised with the Diversity in Aviation Award at the 2025 Aviation Industry Awards UK.
Enabling Diverse Representation
Gender
At the end of 2025, women comprised 41.85% of our senior leadership roles.
41.85%
Women in senior leadership roles.
Our 2025 gender pay gap report identified a mean gender pay gap of 54% and a median of 27%. The overall gap reflects the different distribution of men and women across roles in our organisation, particularly in areas that have historically attracted more men or more women. When pilots and cabin crew are excluded from our figures, our mean gap reduces to 8% and median to 2%.
- Our ‘Women’s Inclusion Network Group for Success’ (WINGS) is a network group set up for all colleagues and dedicated to promoting gender inclusion. The group aims to create a safe space and forum for discussions and ideas and to provide support and opportunities for our colleagues to develop their careers and pursue their career development to leadership or new roles
- Through the STEM Inspire Ambassadors programme, more than 100 colleagues from across British Airways are working to bolster awareness at local schools of STEM careers, with dedicated sessions focused on pilots and engineering. This complements our existing emerging talent offering, which engages local schools, colleges and UK-wide universities.
Ethnicity
We recognise that ethnic minorities are underrepresented throughout our business, especially at our senior executive level. We’ve already seen the representation within our most senior colleague community increase since the launch of our strategy.
- ‘Being of Minority Ethnic’, our ethnic minority colleague network group is driving cultural awareness, bringing all colleagues together for events, and facilitating mentoring, networking and role-modelling opportunities
- Through partnerships with McKinsey and Women in Hospitality, Travel and Leisure, we’re supporting the career progression of colleagues from all backgrounds, and providing the tools to further develop leadership skills
Disability and Accessibility
We want to empower and equip all our colleagues that have different needs, because of visible or non-visible disabilities or health conditions, to achieve their full potential. And, as a member of the Valuable 500, the UK Government’s Disability Confident Scheme and the Business Disability Forum, we’re holding ourselves accountable.
Our 2025 focuses included:
- producing a reasonable adjustments guidance pack for our managers and launching a cross-functional working group to evaluate our reasonable adjustment processes across the colleague lifecycle
- raising awareness about neurodiversity and developing a training programme for colleagues and managers
- collaborating with our colleague network group ‘Being Accessible’ to raise awareness of conditions, accessibility challenges and the need for adjustments
- implementing improvements to our facilities to enable improved accessibility, feeding directly into the BA Better Buildings programme
LGBTQ+
We want all colleagues, including those identifying as LGBTQ+ to feel included across the colleague experience.
We’re working to further improve inclusion for colleagues and ensure our policies and processes are updated to reflect modern society, this includes:
- delivering allyship workshops across key operational areas, focusing on trans and non-binary inclusion, psychological safety and respect
- collaborating with our colleague network group ‘Flying Proud.’ In 2025, the group launched a new allyship campaign aimed at equipping colleagues to be an active ally and providing advice for what to do if they witness microaggressions
Social Mobility
We’ve integrated social mobility into our I&D strategy whilst we work to support colleagues from low-income families to progress within the organisation.
We’ve launched an internal work experience programme called SOAR, which has provided 16 operational colleagues with the opportunity to work in a head office role and access coaching around networking, building a CV and interviewing techniques. In 2025, we saw measurable impact across all KPIs, including a 40% increase in the ability to navigate growth opportunities within the organisation and gain the relevant skills and experiences to progress these opportunities.
We’re also working with our emerging talent team to ensure we offer adequate financial support to our emerging talent programmes.
Colleague Network Groups
Our colleague network groups are open to all. They help us build a diverse and inclusive environment by providing a safe space for employee-led conversations, whilst also increasing a sense of belonging.
Our newest ‘Carers & Parents Empowered’ (CAPE) group exceeded 850 members within the first 6 months. We’ve also launched a new colleague benefit supporting colleagues who are carers, recognising the impact on wellbeing and absence.
Our networks actively welcome and encourage colleagues and allies from all backgrounds to join and get involved.
Our colleague network groups have been pivotal in enabling us to deliver awareness and celebratory events including; LGBT+ History Month, International Women’s Day, International Men’s Day, Carers’ Week, Pride, Black History Month, Disability History Month and National Inclusion Week, as well as championing our ‘Inclusion Starts With I’ strategy.
We also support our faith societies to raise awareness, celebrate religious festivities and advise the company on policies and processes which support greater inclusion.
Creating New Career Pathways
Speedbird Pilot Academy
Our commitment to levelling the playing field in the aviation industry is underscored by the year-on-year expansion of our Speedbird Pilot Academy. By covering the cost of pilot training and providing support for living costs, Speedbird Pilot Academy eliminates financial barriers that have historically impacted diversity in pilot recruitment.
In 2025, we offered 160 places for aspiring pilots – a step towards addressing the social, gender and ethnicity imbalances, whilst ensuring that aspiring pilots from all backgrounds have the opportunity to pursue careers in the aviation sector, with 22% of successful applicants engaged through our Inspire outreach programme.
160
Places offered for aspiring pilots.
Emerging Talent Opportunities
Our award-winning apprentice scheme is now in its 14th year, covering 11 different programmes; engineering, (mechanic, maintenance, workshop, non-destructive testing), business and customer service, as well as 11-month business placements and three-month internships for future leaders. We currently have more than 340 new entrant apprentices working within our operations, as well as some existing colleagues completing an apprenticeship to upskill within their role.
340+
New entrant apprentices.
Get Into Aviation Programme
Our Get Into Aviation programme, run in partnership with The King’s Trust, seeks to inspire young people to gain essential employability skills and consider rewarding careers in the aviation industry. In 2025, 19 young people completed the programme, and 8 young people were successfully offered roles upon completion.
19
Young people completed the programme.
Additional Student Outreach and Employment Opportunities
- Through Speedbird Z, our student engagement platform, we’ve supported the employment prospects of over 80,000 students by providing information and insight into careers at British Airways
- 37 colleagues acted as digital mentors, providing role models from different backgrounds to raise aspirations in young people and engage with 50,000 students through colleague volunteering
- We launched our first year of Inspire Ambassador activity, delivering STEM workshops to students in year 7-9. We engaged 10,000 students through 199 workshops
- We collaborated with 27 partner organisations, including Bright Network and Unifrog to reach more students from diverse backgrounds. We also continued to partner with organisations such as Fantasy Wings, The Duke of Edinburgh Award, and Fight for Peace to strengthen our diversity pipeline and promote opportunities to those in underrepresented groups
- We delivered opportunities for work experience students offering one day and week-long experiences. In 2025, we hosted more than 900 students
- Today, one in four of our apprentices and graduates have engaged with our outreach programme before being offered a role
80000+
Students supported through student engagement platform.
50000
Students engaged through colleague volunteering.
900
Work experience students hosted.
US Engineering Cadet Scheme
We have a dedicated programme to help build a pipeline of future engineers in bases across America. The five-year programme has been designed to equip cadets with the skills, knowledge and experience necessary for a successful career in aviation and to become a fully-licensed aircraft engineer. The scheme launched at our Chicago engineering base and in 2025, we welcomed a new cohort to Newark.
Measuring our Impact
We monitor and measure inclusion and diversity using many indicators, including our employee survey.
In 2025, when compared to the previous year in 2024, we saw a three-percentage point decrease in our score measuring the statement ‘British Airways cares about diversity and is taking the right steps to improve in this area’. We also saw no difference in response to the statement ‘Where I work, people from different backgrounds can be themselves, share their opinions and feel they belong’.
Diversity data is crucial to understanding our workforce and ensuring our strategy and initiatives are targeted and appropriate. We’re making a concerted effort to encourage disclosure of data where possible, introducing new categories around social mobility and caring responsibilities, recognising the evolving needs across society.
Yearly Statistics
Women in senior roles
2025: 41.85%
Measurement: %
Senior roles include our band 1 and band 2 colleagues
2019 Baseline: 38.9%
Ethnic minorities in senior roles
2025: 15.19%
Measurement: %
Senior roles include our band 1 and band 2 colleagues
2019 Baseline: 8.6%