Just days after two major announcements came out of Saudi Arabia regarding the hire of female cabin crew members by a local airline, a first in the Kingdom’s history, and the enrolment of women into flights schools, also another first for Saudi Arabia, the country is now stunning the world again with another milestone announcement: women are now being presented with the opportunity to become co-pilots for a Riyadh-based carrier.
Local airline Flynas announced plans this week to recruit Saudi Arabian women to work as co-pilots and flight attendants. In its call for applications, the airline stated that it aims to empower Saudi women so that they can play an important role in the kingdom’s transformation” and that it believes that “[w]omen... are an essential part of the airline’s success.” Just 24 hours following the announcement, almost 1,000 applications were received from Saudi women for the co-pilot positions, as reported by Gulf News.
In March of year, Saudi Arabia’s General Authority for Civil Aviation (GACA) launched a training program that would allow Saudi women to train as air controllers, setting another milestone for the Kingdom. Saudi Gazette reported that 12 women were accepted into the program, which is a joint venture between the Saudi Academy for Air Aviation and the Saudi Air Service Company.
Following the ascension of Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman to his role in mid-2017, Saudi Arabia has been working on relaxing decades-old restrictions on women, diversifying its economy, modernizing its society, and working on creating a stronger knowledge-based economy, all in an effort to move the Islamic Kingdom away from its past dependency on oil. To date, its major reforms that have improved the lives of Saudi women range from the rescinding of a ban on female motorists, to allowing women into once-male dominated spaces – such as stadiums – and industries, to the appointment of Princess Reema Bint Bandar Bin Sultan as head of the Saudi Federation for Community Sports, the first time a woman has been given this role.
