Gulf Air makes history with first all-Bahraini female cabin crew

In a graduation ceremony at the Gulf Hotel attended by family members of the graduates, Gulf Air Senior Management and representatives from Tamkeen - the country's training and employment agency - presented certificates.

The girls were the first group to graduate from a joint-initiative run by the airline and Tamkeen to  encourage more Bahrainis, particularly females, to join the national carrier in key customer-facing positions such as flight crew by offering flexible scheduling benefits.

Tamkeen, in line with its goals to open new career opportunities for Bahrainis has been actively supporting Gulf Air’s efforts to open new doors in the civil aviation industry for Bahrainis. This initiative to qualify Bahraini female cabin crew is part of a larger effort which has already seen Tamkeen supporting the training of aeronautical engineers and aviation pilots.

Gulf Air Chief Executive Officer Samer Majali said: “Today is a proud day for Bahrain and Gulf Air, the country has eight new ambassadors and the airline has eight new cabin crew. Cabin crew are the face of Gulf Air as they hold one of the most important positions in the company that set the standards of service we offer our customers. The induction of Bahraini cabin crew underpins one of the key components of our new strategy of providing passengers with warm and friendly traditional Arabian hospitality on which Gulf Air’s reputation is built. And who could be better at this, than our national workforce, who intrinsically understands our core values and ethos.”

“When we launched this programme there was some scepticism about how successful it would be and I am delighted to report we have been inundated with applicants.  This is the first of many groups and I am hopeful that by the end of the year we can increase the number of Bahraini cabin crew significantly. We are committed to increasing the Bahrainisation levels across the company. Currently the company’s overall Bahrainisation level in Bahrain 52% while 79% of the airline’s senior and middle management positions are held by Bahrainis. These statistics reinforce Gulf Air’s leadership position amongst its regional competitors in nationalising its workforce.”

Tamkeen’s   Vice President - Enterprise & Human Capital Development, Dr. Ahmed Al-Shaikh said “We are delighted by the success of this initiative that has created new employment opportunities for the local community. By offering greater flexibility in a role, which previously may not have been considered due to the long periods spent away from home, Gulf Air has opened doors for a new generation of Bahrainis to join the exciting world of travel and gain experience in working for a national flag carrier, which has worldwide recognition and respect and is integral to the success of the Bahraini economy.”

One of the new Bahraini cabin crew Ameera said: “Speaking on behalf of our group of eight, we are very proud to be the first group of Bahraini female cabin crew, setting an example for Bahraini girls. I decided to join Gulf Air as a flight attendant to discover the world and to get an opportunity to meet people of all nationalities.”

Gulf Air is the first airline in the GCC to come up with such a recruitment drive designed for nationals. It is part of a wider initiative that Gulf Air has launched demonstrating its commitment to provide career opportunities to Bahrainis in cooperation with Tamkeen; this includes ongoing two-year on-the-job training for engineering graduates, recruitment and training of  Bahrainis in Gulf Air’s World Wide Call Centre Programme, as well as training company employees within Tamkeen’s Career Progression Programme and providing training facilities to the Aeronautics Maintenance Engineering Programme, just to name a few.

Gulf Air is still accepting applications for prospective Bahraini cabin crew, those   interested can also log onto gulfaircareers.com to apply and for more information.

Graduates with Dr. Ahmed Al-Shaikh (Vice President-Enterprise & Human Capital Development, Tamkeen) and Mr. Samer Majali (Chief Executive Officer, Gulf Air)