Air Arabia flies high with 2 new UAE national pilots

The two pilots - Talal Al Ansari and Waleed Matar Al Neaimi - have thus become the first UAE nationals to qualify as pilots with Air Arabia.

The qualification of the two pilots is a result of Air Arabia's concerted initiatives at boosting the Emiratization programme in the country, which is aimed at developing the talent and expertise of UAE nationals. With this, Air Arabia has once again epitomized its active role in supporting the government's efforts to offer career opportunities and advancement of UAE nationals.

Al Ansari and Al Neaimi, who have completed the A320 Pilots Technical Ground and Type Rating Course at Air Arabia, were conferred their graduation certification recently at the Air Arabia office. The two are currently undergoing Ab-Initio Line Training, the airline announced.

Commenting on the major milestone achieved by Air Arabia, Mr. Adel Ali, CEO of Air Arabia, said: "It is a matter of great privilege and pride that we announce that Talal Al Ansari and Waleed Al Neaimi are our first UAE national pilots. This is another major success achieved by Air Arabia since its inception and we are confident that we will have more UAE nationals qualifying as pilots, further boosting our contribution to the country's Emiratization programme."

He added: "At Air Arabia, we believe in nurturing young, dynamic UAE nationals as it is important for them to fully participate in the economic and social development of their country. Effective development of human capital is our greatest asset and we consider providing such opportunities, coupled with training and evolution as an investment and an essential element for quality growth. This qualification was the first step in developing the talent and core expertise of the UAE national workforce."

Second Officer Talal Al Ansari, who joined Air Arabia in February 2006, had earlier worked with Falcon Express Airlines flying the Beechcraft 1900C with over 400 hours flight experience on type. Second Officer Waleed Al Neaimi, who joined Air Arabia in March 2006, was earlier with the UAE Air Force, having over 2600 hours flight experience.

Current Air Arabia destinations include Aleppo and Damascus (Syria); Alexandria, Assiut, Luxor and Sharm El Sheikh (Egypt); Amman (Jordan); Astana and Almaty (Kazakhstan); Bahrain; Beirut (Lebanon); Colombo (Sri Lanka); Dammam, Jeddah and Riyadh (KSA), Doha (Qatar); Khartoum (Sudan); Kuwait; Mumbai and Nagpur (India); Muscat (Oman); Sana'a (Yemen); Sharjah (UAE) and Tehran (Iran). In May, Air Arabia started flights to Kabul (Afghanistan), Jaipur and Kochi (India) and to Europe with Istanbul (Turkey).

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