Women-Owned Aviation Businesses and Operators

How many women-owned businesses operate in U.S. private aviation?

Fewer than 5% of FAA-certificated Part 135 charter operators are majority women-owned, based on cross-referencing FAA operator data with NBAA member directories and SBA women-owned small business (WOSB) certifications. The share is higher in adjacent segments — aircraft brokerage, aviation consultancy, executive recruiting, and FBO ownership — where capital barriers are lower than acquiring and operating a turbine fleet. NBAA does not publish a gender breakdown of member-company ownership, but its small-operator committee work and Women in Business Aviation initiative have repeatedly flagged the gap.

The contrast with the broader U.S. economy is sharp: roughly 21% of employer firms nationally are majority women-owned, per Census Annual Business Survey data. Private aviation lags by a factor of four to five, concentrated most heavily in the capital-intensive operator tier.

Which women-owned FBOs and ground operations are most established?

Showalter Flying Service at Orlando Executive (KORL) is the most-cited example, run for decades by Jenny Showalter and her family before its 2016 acquisition by Atlantic Aviation; the Showalter family retained the legacy brand identity for a transition period. The firm was a fixture of NATA leadership and consistently ranked among the top independent FBOs in AIN's annual surveys.

Million Air's network includes multiple locations with women in senior operational leadership, and several single-location FBOs — particularly in the Mountain West and Southeast — remain family-owned with women as principal operators or majority shareholders. Henriksen Jet Center at Austin Executive (KEDC) and a number of Texas and Florida fields have women in CEO or president roles, though majority equity ownership is not always public.

Who are the notable women-led charter and brokerage firms?

JetOptions, founded and led by Kelly Murphy, is one of the more visible women-founded jet charter brokerages, operating as a retail brokerage matching clients to vetted Part 135 lift. Aviation Personnel International, founded by Sheryl Barden, is the dominant executive-search firm for business aviation flight departments and has placed chief pilots, directors of aviation, and flight attendants across Fortune 500 corporate fleets for more than four decades.

On the operator side, Cindy Halsey has held senior roles across multiple Part 135 platforms and is frequently cited in industry coverage of women in charter management. Jet Linx, Solairus Aviation, and Clay Lacy Aviation each have women in C-suite or senior vice president roles overseeing operations, sales, or safety, though those firms are not majority women-owned.

In aircraft brokerage and acquisition consulting, firms led by women include Mente Group affiliates and several independent brokerages that specialize in pre-owned light and midsize jets. The barrier to entry in brokerage is professional reputation rather than fleet capital, which partially explains the higher representation.

What about MRO, parts, and technical services?

Women-owned MROs are rare at the heavy-maintenance scale but more common in specialized shops — avionics installation, interiors, paint, and parts distribution. Duncan Aviation, Stevens Aerospace, and West Star are not women-owned, but several smaller Part 145 repair stations in the Southeast and Midwest are. The interiors segment in particular — soft goods, upholstery, cabinetry — has a higher concentration of women-owned suppliers feeding the major completion centers.

In parts distribution and aftermarket supply, the SBA WOSB certification creates a measurable procurement advantage when selling to federal customers and defense primes, which has driven formal certification among women-owned aviation suppliers in the Dallas, Wichita, and Atlanta corridors.

Which consultancies and adjacent firms are women-founded?

Aviation Personnel International (Sheryl Barden) leads the executive-search category. In safety, training, and SMS consulting, firms led by women have proliferated over the past decade as IS-BAO and ARGUS audit requirements expanded the market for independent auditors. Several IS-BAO accredited auditors and ARGUS-approved auditors are women operating as sole practitioners or small firms.

Marketing, PR, and conference production aimed at business aviation also skews higher in women-ownership than the operator tier — firms supporting NBAA-BACE, EBACE, and the various regional forums frequently have women as founding principals.

What organizations track and support women-owned aviation businesses?

Women in Aviation International (WAI) maintains the most comprehensive industry presence, with its annual conference functioning as the primary networking venue and awarding more than $500,000 collectively in scholarships each year, including type ratings funded by NetJets, Flexjet, and other operators. The Ninety-Nines, founded in 1929 with Amelia Earhart as its first president, administers the Amelia Earhart Memorial Scholarship for advanced ratings and supports women across the ownership and operator spectrum.

ISA+21 (International Society of Women Airline Pilots) focuses on the airline track but its members frequently transition into corporate flight departments. Sisters of the Skies concentrates on Black women pilots and has formal partnerships with United, Delta, and several business-aviation operators for type-rating scholarships. Whirly-Girls International covers rotorcraft. Women of Aviation Worldwide Week, run each March, profiles women-owned businesses as part of its annual programming.

NBAA's Business Aviation Women's Council and the Corporate Aviation Women's Group provide industry-specific networking, and the Greater Washington Business Aviation Association and similar regional groups have active women-in-business-aviation programming.

Where is the segment growing fastest?

Brokerage, consultancy, and aftermarket supply are the fastest-growing women-owned categories, while operator ownership remains structurally constrained by capital intensity and the multi-year path to building a Part 135 certificate with meaningful fleet scale. The pattern matches the historical figures — Jacqueline Cochran built Cochran-Odlum on the back of a cosmetics fortune and aviation contracts; Beverley Bass and Tammie Jo Shults built reputations inside large operators rather than founding their own — and the modern path for most women entering business-aviation ownership runs through brokerage, consultancy, or partnership equity in an existing operator rather than greenfield certification.

The SBA WOSB and 8(a) certifications continue to drive formal incorporation among women-owned aviation suppliers selling into federal and defense procurement, which is the most reliable forward indicator of segment growth.