One of Saudi Arabia’s key Vision 2030 goals is female empowerment and the encouragement of women joining the kingdom’s workforce. Every day, this vision is becoming a reality and this week, the first flight with an all-female crew took to the skies for a domestic flight.
Nothing short of a milestone for the kingdom, the flight operator is Flyadeal – a budget local, Saudi airline.
The kingdom’s civil aviation authority confirmed the news that there were seven crew members on board, with the majority being of Saudi origin, and included Yara Jan, the youngest Saudi female pilot. Striving for female empowerment within the aviation industry, Yasmeen Al Maimani, then 29, became the kingdom’s first female first officer when she flew a major commercial airliner in 2019. She also flew a Nesma Airlines ATR 72-600 trip from Hail to Al Qassim.
Since the establishment of Vision 2030, statistics proved that female participation in the Saudi workforce saw an increase of 33% by the end of 2020. One of the kingdom’s key goals within the aviation sector is to invest 356 billion riyals ($95 billion) into it. Saudi Arabia’s National Aviation Sector Strategy aims to expand connectivity to 250 locations, carrying 330 million passengers.
Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman (MBS), has supervised reforms in the favor of female empowerment. This includes the removal of the ban on women driving as well as lifting certain guardianship laws that allowed men authority over female relatives and their ability to do things like travel abroad alone.
Source: Cosmo Politian
