Cheyenne Boyd ’16 is a 737 pilot for Southwest Airlines

For Cheyenne Boyd ’16, the sky has truly become her limit. After years of training and studying, she is now a 737 pilot for Southwest Airlines.

It’s clear she’s not afraid of hard work. At Salve Regina, Boyd triple majored in business administration, finance and global business and economics. This work ethic continues to pay off, as she is one of the few females in a male-dominated industry – something she is passionate about changing in the future.

From Arizona to Rhode Island

Born and raised in Arizona, Boyd had an active childhood. She started playing ice hockey at the age of 5 and fell in love with the sport. She wanted to play in college, but it wasn’t offered at schools on the West Coast. She began to search for schools on the East Coast and discovered Salve Regina.

“I got to meet the hockey team there,” Boyd said. “It was a favorite school and had a beautiful campus, and they had the majors that I wanted.”

Moving to Newport was a culture shock, but Boyd quickly grew close with the ice hockey team and lived with her teammates for her junior and senior year. She has many fond memories from her time on the team. “We were super close,” she said. “On bus rides, we always had little superstitions where we all had to sit in the same seat.”

Cheyenne Boyd ’16 was on the women’s ice hockey team at Salve Regina.

Becoming a major airline pilot

While Boyd was an undergraduate student, she was also working on becoming a pilot. She had been flying under supervision for decades, completing her first official flight at just 10 years old. Her dad was a pilot, and his career inspired hers. “I always loved it,” Boyd said. “It’s something that’s challenging and that I’m passionate about.”

Boyd took flight classes in the summers, and after graduation she headed to Florida to complete her flight instructor training. As a flight instructor, she faced many challenges, but her time at Salve Regina prepared her to be self sufficient.

“While I don’t have a career in [my majors], I still use what I learned in those college classes,” she said. “It’s everything I brought with me from my college experience: Four years living so far away from home and really growing up that allowed me to flourish into whatever path I took. And my path became a flight instructor and a pilot.”

Boyd’s dedication led her to a job flying for her first major airline, Southwest Airlines, as a 737 pilot. “I used to get made fun of for always having a 10-year plan, so it’s funny how it worked out that I wanted to be a pilot when I was 18, and I just turned 28,” she said. “It was 10 years in the making. Every step along the way I worked hard, and I appreciated every step.”

Boyd took her first flight lesson when she was just 10 years old, inspired by her dad’s career as a pilot.

The Sisters of Mercy’s critical concern of women

Boyd understands the impact and importance of being a female in a male-dominated industry. It’s an important issue for her, and it aligns with the Critical Concerns of Salve Regina’s founding Sisters of Mercy, especially in regards to women.

“I think one of the coolest things is that only 4.7% of pilots are female, and I knew maybe two female pilots my whole life,” she said. “Growing up and my dad being in aviation, I got to do a lot of things like Women in the Aviation, which is a program where other female aviators do events together.”

Boyd hopes to inspire other children, especially young girls, to become pilots. “Whenever a little kid comes up to see the flight deck, I let them sit in the seat – and especially if they’re female,” she said. “It’s cool to help them see themselves doing something they might not have seen themselves doing before.”

Article written by student writer Amanda Graves ’23