Zoya Agarwal, Sr. Commander ranked pilot at Air India and well known as ‘Captain Zoya’ is an inspirational figure for the young generation of India. She was born on 24th May 1981 in New Delhi.
Zoya Agarwal belongs to a humble middle class family of Delhi and she has also completed her school education in capital city Delhi only. She had opted for Science in her 11th and 12th of schooling. Zoya then did BSC (Bachelor of Science) from St. Stephen’s College, Delhi and graduated in around 2022. She then topped in her college and then her parents also felt that she needed to get enrolled for the pilot course to achieve her goals.
Since she was very passionate about the field, she started doing savings and contributed all savings from her piggy bank which she had been doing from the last 17 years by then for enrolling into the aviation classes. But it was not enough, because aviation classes are expensive to enroll in, and there came the support of her father who took out a loan to ensure her admission. She took 2 years to prepare for the Air India Examination.
Zoya Agarwal holds various records under her name. Looking at her professional career, we find that she became the fifth girl to fly in Air India in 2004. Her first flight was from Delhi to Dubai.
In 2013 she was the youngest woman to fly the Boeing 777 in the world. In 2021, Zoya Agarwal became the first ever woman captain to fly over the north pole with an all women crew, creating world history. Zoya Agarwal’s achievements has been celebrated in various parts of the world. Zoya Agarwal has even got mentioned about her by the prime minister of India Mr. Narendra Modi himself in one of his ‘Man Ki Baat’ radio talk shows.
In August 2022, She got inducted into a prominent US-based aviation museum – Louis a. turpen aviation museum. The SFO based aviation museum recognized Zoya Agarwal’s illustrious career in aviation and her passion for empowering women worldwide. She has motivated millions of young women and girls to achieve their ambitions.
