Senator Warnock’s newly-passed legislation tackles diversity and employment gaps in the aviation industry

Only 3.4% of U.S. airline pilots are Black, 2.2% are of Asian descent, and 0.5% are Hispanic or Latino. Women make up just 4.6%. These statistics are pitiful and make for horrible reading. However, Senator Reverend Raphael Warnock, a Democrat from Georgia, successfully amended legislation which attempts to address these systemic anomalies within the aviation industry.  The Airways Act is landmark legislation to provide public and non-profit educational institutions with the resources they need to address the shortage of pilots, mechanics, and manufacturers. Warnock also successfully secured provisions of his legislation in the FAA reauthorization bill. One of the key benefits will be in aviation workforce development. Warnock was able to secure $120 million in the bill for aviation workforce development efforts. 108,000 aviation employees across 800 different aviation companies, including Delta Airlines and Gulfstream Aerospace Corporation, currently call Georgia home. “I’m a big advocate for increasing the pipeline for creating good paying jobs,” Warnock said. “There’s hardly a field that suffers more from a lack of diversity than aviation. At the same time, we need more pilots. We need more aviation mechanics. We need people who are prepared to work in the various jobs in that industry.” In all,...