Manama: Gulf Air officials have expressed confidence that their breakthrough move to recruit Bahraini women to work as flight attendants is gaining momentum in a region that is not yet accustomed to seeing local women among cabin crews.
Seeking to encourage Bahraini women to apply for the position, Samer Majali, the Chief Executive Officer, said that the new cabin crew career path would be suitable for them.
For example, the company will not require the Bahraini stewardesses to staff overnight flights.
"We have taken into consideration the local cultural and social aspects while asking Bahraini females to come and work for Gulf Air as members of cabin crew, where the job demands odd working hours," Majali told a gathering of University of Bahrain students expected to graduate soon.
"We have worked out flexible working hours for them whereby they will not be required to take overnight flights. They can look forward to an exciting and rewarding career with Gulf Air," the Jordan-born CEO said as he sought to allay possible personal and family concerns. Gulf Air has enlisted the support of Tamkeen (Empowerment) in its initiative to encourage Bahraini girls to join the carrier in positions dealing directly with customers.
"Bahrain has been at the vanguard of educational progress in the region since the establishment of the Gulf's first public education system in 1919.
This is something from which Gulf Air has benefited over the past 60 years and something I hope will continue for the next 6o," Majali said. "We are committed to investing in education and developing Bahraini talent. To achieve this goal we have been working closely with Tamkeen to create as many job opportunities as possible for qualified Bahrainis."
The recruitment drive is one of several initiatives launched by the company that include ongoing two-year on-the-job training for engineering graduates, recruitment and training of 125 Bahrainis in Gulf Air's World Wide Call Centre Programme, training company employees and providing training facilities to the Aeronautics Maintenance Engineering Programme.
Gulf Air aims to be the first airline in the Gulf Cooperation Council to seek to recruit women nationals to join cabin crews.
