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Written question asked by Lee Pitcher (Labour) on Friday, 3 July 2026, in the House of Commons. It was due for an answer on Tuesday, 7 July 2026. It was answered by Keir Mather (Labour) on Monday, 13 July 2026 on behalf of the Department for Transport.

Aviation: Crew

Question

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.

Answer

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.

Secondary information

Type
Written question
Reference
15847
Session
2026-27
Related items
Aviation: Crew
Friday, 17 April 2026
Written questions
House of Commons
Subjects
Aviation Crew Civil Aviation Authority Retirement
Contains statistics
Yes
Link
View this Written question on www.parliament.uk