Air India’s youngest Boeing 777 commander inspiring the next generation of female pilots

Blazing a trail through the skies and through the ranks in Air India, Anny Divya has become an inspiration to millions as the world’s youngest Boeing 777 commander, and she’s only getting started.

From humble beginnings in a lower middle class family in Vijayawada, India, where Divya was mocked by her classmates for her initial struggles with the English language, she would eventually move first to flight school in Spain and then London, having begun her training in India at just 17.

Years later, during her time in London in 2017, she became the world’s youngest Boeing 777 pilot.

When asked recently about what motivates her, 32-year-old Divya quoted Lord Krishna saying, “The journey is not important, the destination is!”

The daughter of a soldier with the Indian Army, Divya used pressure from her family to succeed in a male-dominated profession to push through language barriers and stereotypes about the commercial aviation profession, initially flying Boeing 737s to the Middle East and Far East sectors, before being promoted to become the world’s youngest Boeing 777 captain.

“Maybe getting those marks, high and low, was because I was not bothered about being judged by anybody. I do what my soul says and I just love to learn,” Divya told LinkedIn after becoming its newest influencer, joining the likes of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Bill Gates, and Oprah Winfrey.

Thanks to Divya and others like her, India is now leading the way internationally, with double the global average of women pilots.

“When I became the youngest woman to command a Boeing 777, I didn’t realise that I had unknowingly become an inspiration to young women around the world, who want to pursue a profession in flying… I look forward to inspiring others through my personal story,” Divya, 32, told LinkedIn in an interview.

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