Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, pursuant to the Answer of 17 April 2026 to Question 123626 on Aviation: Crew, if she will provide the number of commercial airline pilots registered with the Civil Aviation Authority who (a) reached the mandatory retirement age of 65 in each of the past five calendar years and (b) will reach the mandatory retirement age of 65 in each of the next 10 calendar years.
The data below accounts for all relevant commercial licence types and relates to pilots who reached the age of 65 during the relevant report year and held a valid commercial licence and valid medical certificate as of 1 January of that year.
Date | Number of Pilots aged 65 |
1st January 2022 | 43 |
1st January 2023 | 51 |
1st January 2024 | 54 |
1st January 2025 | 61 |
1st January 2026 | 72 |
The number of pilots that will reach the mandatory age of 65 in the next 10 calendar years can be found on the Civil Aviation Authority’s published data on pilot licence holders by age and sex, which can be found here: https://www.caa.co.uk/data-and-analysis/approved-persons-and-organisations/personnel-licensing-statistics/pilot-licence-holders-by-age-and-sex/ . The data for 2025 will be published in the next few months.