Men and Women in Irish Aircraft Leasing: Headcount and Pay
Quick answer
Women make up about 39% of the 3,096 people working in Irish aircraft leasing, and that share has barely moved since 2019. Median weekly pay for women was €2,025 in 2025 against €2,810 for men.
Table ALIA02 is the only place the CSO breaks aircraft leasing employment down by sex. It covers 2019 to 2025 and reports headcount, average age and three measures of pay. Like the rest of the leasing release, it is an industry aggregate. It says nothing about any individual company.
Headcount
In 2025 there were 1,901 men and 1,195 women employed, 3,096 in total. Women were 38.6% of the workforce. In 2019 the split was 1,800 men and 1,114 women, which is 38.2% women. Over six years the industry added about 180 people, and the sex balance stayed essentially where it started.
Average age rose for both groups: from 39 to 42 for men and from 38 to 40 for women between 2019 and 2025.
Pay
| 2025 | Men | Women | Women as % of men |
|---|---|---|---|
| Median weekly pay | €2,810 | €2,025 | 72% |
| Mean weekly pay | €6,491 | €3,128 | 48% |
| Mean annual earnings | €313,044 | €147,938 | 47% |
The median and the mean tell different stories. The median is the pay of the person in the middle, so a handful of very large salaries cannot move it. The mean is pulled up by those salaries. A mean that is roughly double the median for men is a sign of a long tail of very high earners, and that tail is far longer on the male side.
Has anything changed since 2019?
Pay rose for both groups, and at similar rates:
- Median weekly pay: men up 41% (€1,989 to €2,810), women up 39% (€1,456 to €2,025).
- Mean annual earnings: men up 36% (€230,533 to €313,044), women up 39% (€106,576 to €147,938).
The ratios barely moved. Women’s median weekly pay was 73% of men’s in 2019 and 72% in 2025. Mean weekly pay was 48% of men’s in both years. Mean annual earnings are noisier: women’s earnings reached 60% of men’s in 2022 before falling back to 47% in 2025.
What these numbers do not say
The CSO figures are not adjusted for job level, hours worked, seniority or role. A gap in averages is not the same as unequal pay for the same job, and the table gives no way to tell how much of the gap comes from who holds which roles. It also does not say why the share of women has stayed flat. Treat this as a description of the workforce, not an explanation of it.
For the wider picture of the industry, see How Big Is Ireland’s Aircraft Leasing Industry? and Mean vs median pay in Irish aircraft leasing.