Aya Gertrude Konan is the Ivory Coast’s first female commercial pilot, an officer at Air Côte d’Ivoire, flying the Airbus A320.
She began her career in the aviation industry as an air hostess in April 2013, a position she held until October 2015.
In the last quarter of 2014, the national airline company Air Côte D’Ivoire launched a competition, aiming to recruit and train young Ivorians in aeronautical professions (pilots and aircraft mechanics).
Aya seized the opportunity and applied for it. At the end of the recruitment process, 15 people were selected out of approximately 1500 candidates, and Aya Gertrude Konan was the only woman among them.
At the end of a two-year and four-month training period, from October 2015 to February 2017, she became the first female commercial pilot trained by the State of Côte d’Ivoire.