Karachi: The first Pakistani passenger plane with a female pilot and all-woman crew flew on a domestic flight last week, making aviation history in the country, an official said yesterday.
Now the pilot, Aisha Rabia Naveed, 48, who already has 6,000 hours' experience flying as a co-pilot with Pakistan International Airlines, aims to captain larger jet airliners for the national carrier.
The 40 passengers aboard Wednesday's PIA flight from Islamabad to Lahore were told before takeoff that the pilot was a woman, but only found out afterward that it was a first.
After the safe landing in Lahore, colleagues showered Naveed, co-pilot Sadia Aziz, and flight attendants Shazia Kauser and Tauseef Ashraf with petals and garlands as they left the Fokker turboprop plane. "That was a nice feeling and great sense of achievement for me," Naveed said yesterday.
Despite opposition from hardline religious groups that often discourage women from jobs traditionally performed by men, PIA said it was proud to have the first all-women crew in the airline's 58-year history.
