Wouldn't this then be discrimination against all other ethnicities not considered? If anti-discrimination is the goal, why consider ethnicity at all? Affirmative action is simply discrimination in disquise in my opinion. To answer your question, some airlines take this into account more than others. One of the large majors has a reputation for giving preferrential hiring treatment to minorities and females. While most of us would agree that having a pilot pool that represents a cross section of America as a good thing, the goal should be to hire the best pilots regardless of race or gender.