Emirates celebrates as 10,000th cabin crew graduates

Mohana Chonayah, the 10,000th graduate, arrived in Dubai six weeks ago from her native Malaysia, where she was recruited after impressing Emirates recruitment officers during the careful selection process.

She was one of the 61 new cabin crew at last week's graduation ceremony who has spent the last six weeks undergoing intensive training and assessment at the world-class Emirates Aviation College in Dubai. The graduates trained in state-of-the art facilities, including emergency training simulators and full-scale aircraft mock-ups, along with medical training accredited by the Royal College of Surgeons in Edinburgh to ensure that Emirates' passengers benefit from being in the best qualified hands in the industry.

"I am so proud to be the 10,000th person to fly for Emirates," said Mohana, who is due to receive her first roster in the coming days. "I am really excited to find out what cities I will be going in my first month. My batchmates and I have all worked so hard throughout our training and we can't wait to put everything we learned into practice."

Mohana was joined on stage by the first, 500th and 1,000th Emirates cabin crew, all of whom are still flying with the multi-award winning international carrier.

Senior Flight Purser Khalid Al Alem, from Jordan, joined Emirates in September 1985, a month before its first flight even departed Dubai International Airport for the two destinations it served back then, Karachi and Mumbai.

Today Emirates serves more than 100 destinations on six continents with a fleet comprising 111 passenger planes and 10 freighters.

"There were 78 cabin crew in our first batch," Khalid reminisced. "Things were completely different 23 years ago. We started with two leased aircraft while today we operate the most sophisticated, advanced machines in the world.

"When we started, Emirates was our baby. Today I look back and am so proud to have grown with it. One of the most rewarding aspects of my job is when I see new crew applying skills that I have passed onto them."

In February 1994 Anna Guilas became the 500th cabin crew to join the growing airline. Today she is a Purser who has travelled the world in the course of her work, overseeing the entire cabin operations on each flight.

"What I love most about what I do," she said, "is that no two days at work are ever the same. I spend the whole month going to different places, meeting new people, learning about different cultures.

"Every day is a new experience. Every flight is full of surprises that you have to use the knowledge you have gained to deal with."

Cabin crew 1,000, Nassera Benoumeur, was recruited 12 years ago in London while on holiday from Spain.

"I was visiting my friend who was cabin crew for another airline," remembered Nassera, "when I saw the ad. My friend had heard what a great airline Emirates was and encouraged me to go for it. So I did and I got the job."

And she has never looked back. Today Nassera splits her time between working as a Purser on the Airbus A380 and as a Safety Instructor training cockpit crew and cabin crew from Emirates and other airlines at the Emirates Training College.

"I love my career," she enthused. "There are so many challenges involved with being part of an airline growing as fast as Emirates. We are a world-class airline, but we have worked so hard to achieve this."

Emirates Divisional Senior Vice President - Service Delivery Terry Daly paid tribute to the 10,000-strong team of Emirates cabin crew, "Our cabin crew occupy a special place in the Emirates family: they are the public image of our great airline. It is their grace and professionalism that helps to keep customers coming back to fly Emirates."

He added that within five years, Emirates forecasted the number of cabin crew to tip 18,000. "Given our current aircraft order, we will eventually need more than 20,000 crew."

Global cabin crew recruitment drives, particularly in areas on the Emirates passenger route network, have resulted in a truly multi-cultural talent base of more than 120 different nationalities.