Etihad Airways, the national airline of the UAE, has appointed three UAE nationals as airport managers in South Korea, Seychelles, and Saudi Arabia.

This brings to eight the number of Etihad Airways’ Emirati airport managers across the world.   

Fatima Al Hashemi has been appointed aairport manager for Incheon, South Korea; Yousuf Mohammed joins as airport manager for Madinah, Saudi Arabia; and Mansour Hamad will be airport manager for Seychelles, in Mahé.

Ray Gammell, Etihad Aviation Group’s chief people and performance officer, said: “These new appointments embody the success of our UAE National Development Programme and also demonstrates our ability to attract top Emirati talent from elsewhere. Our new airport managers are excellent examples of our Emirati employees’ enthusiasm to become leaders in aviation, and I look forward to watching their careers continue to flourish.”

An important part of developing the UAE national workforce is the opportunity to work in a dynamic, multi-cultural environment and to be posted on international assignments to accelerate their development. More than 90 UAE nationals are positioned at the airline’s offices and airports across the Middle East, Asia, Europe and the Americas.

Al Hashemi is the airline’s second Emirati female airport manager. She joined Etihad Airways in 2012 as a graduate manager and has worked in Abu Dhabi and Singapore. Al Hashemi graduated from Zayed University in Dubai with a degree in Business Administration and Information Technology.

Mohammed began his career in the aviation industry in 2004 as an airport services agent. He joined Etihad Airways in 2011 as an operations duty manager and has worked in Jeddah, Kuala Lumpur, Colombo, and most recently, Muscat.

Hamad is a 13 year veteran of the UAE Air Force, where he worked in roles as diverse as Air Defence, Search and Rescue, and Air Traffic Control. He joined Etihad Airways in 2011 and has worked in operations in Doha, Manchester and Riyadh. His last position was as duty manager in Riyadh.

Geert W. Boven, Etihad Airways senior vice-president Global Airport Services, said: “It’s great to have staff of this calibre on our team. They will have overall responsibility for our operations at their airports, including safety, security, and station performance management. These are challenging roles requiring a number of diverse skills sets that have been carefully developed during their careers with us.”

The UAE’s national airline employs over 3,000 Emiratis globally. In 2015 the airline welcomed more than 1,200 UAE nationals to its global workforce, representing 30 per cent of its core staff – the largest nationality group of the 140 nationalities within Etihad Airways’ multicultural global team. - TradeArabia News Service