Gema Martin del Burgo, EVA’s chief of affairs, and Tomás Marqués, Aerotec’s president, signed the document at Aerotec’s offices in Cuatro Vientos

The two female students picked by Ellas Vuelan Alto and funded by Aerotec were also present during the signature and spoke in favor of these type of programs

Ellas Vuelan Alto

Gema Martín del Burgo, chief manager of Ellas Vuelan Alto, signed the cooperation agreement with Aerotec Pilot School, which made official the duties of EVA in picking the female candidates for Aerotec’s financial aid program for pilot studies.

It was also signed by Tomás Marqués, Aerotec’s president, with each of the 4 final candidates present during said signature.

Gema Martín del Burgo declared “this cooperation agreement is a great opportunity for closing the gender gap in such a fascinating sector as pilot studies. We at EVA are grateful to our partner, Aerotec, for trusting our criteria when choosing their first female candidate selection. We will always stand by these types of initiatives aimed at closing the gender gap and give opportunities for those students that are unable to follow their dreams due to financial constraints. We are aware that the pilot job is highly vocational calling, and money and gender should never be a barrier in order to access it”.

Tomás Marqués insisted on the need for financial aid for those students who really dream of being a pilot. Marqués highlighted Aerotec’s compromise with the fight against gender discrimination. “More than 20% of Aerotec’s students are women, which is an order of magnitude above our sector’s numbers. We deeply believe that our profession needs more women. This is why we are cooperating with Ellas Vuelan Alto, and why we have been supported them since their foundation. This initiative shows our twin compromise of allowing people with lower income and women to join these types of studies”.

The two students selected by Ellas Vuelan Alto were grateful to the pilot school and this association for this one in a lifetime opportunity, and they also supported more initiatives like this one for all those who dream of flight, yet don’t have the economic means to do it so.

One of them explained that “I find it amazing that somebody, in this case, Aerotec, invests such amount of time, and most importantly, money, in us young people who want to learn. So we have to do our part now, and work hard in order to become not only good pilots, but also good instructors, and show Aerotec that they have chosen well. In my personal case, many banks and financial institutions refused to support me, so the existence of this program sounded like a miracle by itself, not to mention the fact that they chose me!”.

She also pointed out the need for more state support for that type of jobs: “There is currently no public support for these types of studies, since pilot studies are under the umbrella of the transport ministry, rather than the ministry of education” she explained. “I think that the government should realize that this is just another different type of higher education, that there ought to be some kind of financial help for all those low-income students who wants to become pilots. As for other private pilot schools or airlines, every help is welcomed, but I think that the ones who should make the first move is the public administration”, she declared.

The second female cadet under this scholarship program also held Aerotec’s program in high regard: “This has been the chance of my life. I am now studying what I want thanks to it, I am learning a lot, and I will be able to work at the job of my dreams, which is something that I wouldn’t have been able to do by my own”, to which she added: “I consider that there are almost no possible paths for young people that wants to become a pilot nowadays. But little by little, opportunities like this one are starting to appear, and if more associations, pilot schools, and airlines follow this example, this might change. I would also want to say that I would love if more girls and boys like me would have easier access to this job because working on what you love brings you closer to happiness and personal growth”.