A Saudi Arabian airline made the country’s first flight with an all-female crew, company spokesmen said.
The plane, operated by Flyadeal, flew from the capital Riyadh to the Red Sea coastal city of Jeddah on Thursday, company spokesman Emad Iskandarani said.
The seven crew members were all Saudi women, except the pilot, who was of another nationality, Iskandarani said, according to the AFP agency.
The Saudi Civil Aviation Authoritywhich confirmed the announcement by Flyadeal, a subsidiary of the national airline Saudia, welcomed the support for the inclusion of women in this area.
In 2019, the authority announced the first flight with a Saudi female co-pilot.
For the first time in Saudi aviation history!??
#flyadeal operated the first flight with all-female crew, majority of which are Saudis by the newest A320 aircraft. Flight 117, flew from #Riyadh to #Jeddah ✈️? pic.twitter.com/fWo08hYMd7
— طيران أديل (@flyadeal) May 20, 2022
Since the rise of the young Crown Prince Mohamed bin Salman, the kingdom’s de facto ruler since 2017, Saudi Arabia is experiencing a relative social openness. Among other measures, women have been authorized to drive in that country in 2018.
Saudi Arabia announced earlier this month that it wanted to become a global air transport hub and triple its annual traffic to 330 million passengers before the end of the decade.
The government plans to inject 100,000 million dollars in the sector by 2030, launch a new national airline and build a new “mega airport” in the capital.
Some analysts, however, question the ability of Saudi airlines to compete with other heavyweights in the region, such as Emirates or Qatar Airways.
