Before the Guild was established in 1929, the future status of air pilots and air navigators was very much in doubt. The small group of commercial pilots who formed the Guild were virtually responsible for ensuring that their successors enjoyed a professional status, and one of the Guild's objectives has been to foster and improve that standing. From the beginning the Guild was modelled on the lines of the old City Guilds and Livery Companies and its constitution and by-laws reflect that foundation, although its activities and work is very much contemporary.

The Guild became a Livery Company of the City of London in 1956: a rarely bestowed mark of distinction. This was a great factor in increasing not only the influence of the Guild, the 81st Livery Company to be formed in 800 years, but of the entire profession of pilot and navigator in the United Kingdom and overseas.