Sky's the limit !

Bahraini girls are going places and reaching for the skies as the national flag carrier graduated its first group of female cabin crew this week.

In an initiative launched by Gulf Air in association with Tamkeen in May this year, the national carrier hopes to encourage more Bahrainis, particularly females, to join in key customer-interaction positions.

Prior to her first operating flight to Bangkok, an excited Sana Khalid, one of the eight recruits who has just completed a 10-week intensive training programme at the company's headquarters in Muharraq, said: 'I always wanted to be a cabin crew, every time I flew Gulf Air and saw them in their smart uniforms. I was fascinated that they got to travel around the world.

'I thought you had to be tall and perfectly groomed and when I got the call for the job, I thought my friends were playing a prank on me.

'The training has given me a lot of confidence to speak in public and has made me aware of personal and public safety. I never used to wear my seatbelt before, but I do now. It has made me aware that even one person can make a difference.'

Sana joined the profession despite warnings from her friends about the image of her job and its general reputation. Although she hails from a conservative Muslim family, Sana got wholehearted support from her parents, husband, Fahad Mohammed Malik and her in-laws.

Eager to tell the world about the excitement and importance of her work, Sana said: 'People were surprised and asked me whether I was sure about my choice. There is a general opinion that this is not a respectable job. Many people even refer to you as a waitress!

'During my training period I also had some doubts because we had heard this from so many people. But it is a completely different story.

'Training was full of exciting and serious moments. Initially the emergency evacuation was a laughing matter until we saw some videos that brought us back to reality.

'People make an opinion and judge us simply by what they see. My husband is very supportive because he is an open-minded person. He understands my aspirations and it is because of his support that I am here.

'Being a crew member is not just about dressing up and serving food. During training we realised that we are not only there to serve them, but also to keep them safe and even provide first aid.

'Serving food is just one part of our job. We cannot let our passengers go hungry and we are there to help them if anything untoward happens during the flight.'

Sana was also concerned about unruly passengers and the prospect of dealing with them until the security personnel assured her that cabin crew's safety is equally important to the airline.

According to Sana there are many additional benefits from the job besides the personal fulfilment. She believes that the gains include a feeling of security as well as financial benefits.

She said: 'Monetarily I am much more secure now. In my previous jobs I never got any extra pay for working over our regular hours. But here I get paid for every extra hour I work.

'Gulf Air also has a new policy that I can take one year off if I am planning to have a baby and then come back to work.

'I am very excited and am looking forward to visiting new places and shopping. I really hope that people will see this profession differently. In cases of emergency it will be their lives that we will take care of first before our own. I think they should appreciate that.'

Inspired by Sana, two of her Bahraini friends have also joined and are beginning their training next month. The other graduates in the first batch are Hessa Al Aswad, Nada Alabbasi, Ameera Almahmeed, Aysha Al Sharji, Reem Humood, Manal Abdulla and Rabia Ismail.

Gulf Air is the first airline in the region to recruit women nationals to join as cabin crew. It is part of a wider initiative to help provide career opportunities to Bahrainis in co-operation with Tamkeen. It includes a two-year on-the-job training for engineering graduates, recruitment and training of 125 Bahrainis in Gulf Air's Worldwide 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.