Ayesha Rabia Naveed is a former commercial pilot from Pakistan who flew for the national airline, Pakistan International Airlines (PIA). In 2005, she became the first Pakistani woman to captain a scheduled commercial flight.[1][2] In 2006 she was captain of the first all woman crew of a Pakistani passenger flight.[1][2]
Naveed's father was a doctor who flew as a hobby. Her uncle was an airline pilot. As a result, she would visit flying clubs frequently. She started learning flying at a young age.[2]
Ayesha's inspiration was Shukriya Khanum, who was the first woman aviator in the country. Ayesha first got the Private Pilots' License. Then she got the Commercial Pilot's License.[2]
In 1980, she applied for a pilot for the Pakistan International Airlines and was selected. She also served as the Air Traffic Controller at the Lahore Airport for the Civil Aviation Authority.[2] During the conservative rule of General Zia-ul-Haq, Ayesha had to abort her training and instead opted to be the Sales and Marketing professional for the airline.[2] In 1989 she was asked to attend pilot training. In 1990, she became the second woman to fly a commercial flight as a first officer.[1] In 2005, Ayesha became the first Pakistani woman captain of a commercial airline. She had 6000 flying hours at that time.[3] She retired in 2017 as a Captain of the Airbus A310.[2] By the time of her retirement she had flown Fokker, Boeing 737, Boeing 747, Airbus 300 and Airbus 310.[3]