The first ever all-female flight deck crew for Royal Brunei Airlines has operated a plane from Brunei to Jeddah in Saudi Arabia.
Although it was a milestone for the airline, the pilot crew touched
down in a country where women are still not allowed to drive a car.
To mark Brunei’s National Day, which celebrates the country’s
independence, Captain Sharifah Czarena Surainy, Senior First Officer Dk
Nadiah Pg Khashiem and Senior First Officer Sariana Nordin flew
flight BI081 to the Middle Eastern country on 23 February.
The occasion came just over three years after Captain Czarena became
the first female captain of a flag carrier in Southeast Asia. She told Brunei times in 2012: “Being a pilot, people normally see it as being a male dominant occupation.”
“As a woman, a Bruneian woman,
it is such a great achievement. It’s really showing the younger
generation or the girls especially that whatever they dream of, they can
achieve it,” said the captain, who completed her initial pilot training
at the Cabair Flying School in Cranfield.
And Royal Brunei Airlines is committed to getting more women into the
industry as it currently offers an Engineering Apprentice programme to
both males and females.
But the airline's landmark voyage also highlighted the restrictions
women still face in Saudi Arabia.
Although there is no law that
prohibits women from driving, it is a rule imposed by conservative muslims.
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