Oman Air has recently employed 7 young Omanis to be trained as Ab-Initio pilots to operate on its new fleet of Boeing 737 NG. This came under the guidance of His Majesty the Sultan’s directives to give Omani youth adequate opportunities, recruiting and training them within the private sector, and as an obligation by the national carrier of Oman towards preparing and qualifying Oman nationals to work within the field of aviation.
The new batch of 6 Males and 1 female cadets who have already obtained Commercial Pilot Licenses (CPL), shall be enrolled in a training program at Qatar Aviation College for a period of 4 months, after which if successfully passed, will enable them to join another program for the period of 2 months at Oman Air’s Flight Operations Ground School so as, to qualify for the B737NG ranking, whereby execute tests on the flight simulator. Whilst accomplishing all these grounding programs, the candidates shall be fully competent to operate as Co-pilots.
Mr. Ziad Bin Karim Al Haremi, Oman Air’s Acting Chief Executive Officer commented on the occasion saying: “In line with all the progressive development of services and activities rendered by Oman Air, the management has endorsed an ambitious plan to enroll and qualify more Omanis, in a move to attain the ultimate objective by offering them the opportunity to participate efficiently augmenting the company’s goals, thus to position the flag carrier among the leading international carriers. We do genuinely feel proud that Omani cadres are presently holding most key positions within the company, in which signifies an obvious evidence of the management’s confidence of them.”
He added: “one of our foremost issues to ensure obedience with the high safety standards is by providing highly trained human resources. Oman Air is proud to affirm having an excellent safety record, which has been reached through the resourceful training of its staff. We belief that any investment on training will unquestionably enhance our safety standards. Therefore the Company has approved a special budget for training, in addition to dispatching several cadets to obtain the required aviation licenses. We are privileged and delighted that the national carrier of Oman is one of the leading private sector companies in the field of Omanisation, in which as a result met gratitude and recognition not only locally, but also regionally”.
Corporate Communications and Media Department commented “this is the forth batch of cadets in who to be sent by Oman Air for training as pilots over the past three years. 5 pilots during 2004, and later 10 additional school graduates were sent to Atlantic Flight Training College in UK, followed by 6 more pilots in who obtained Commercial Pilot Licenses also were deputed to Qatar Aviation College so as to meet the major expected expansions aiming to reach with the Omani Khanjar to more international destinations.”
The Department added: “Oman Air’s Ground School is considered a foremost training investment to be set up by the Company, with regard to flight operations training and the technical educational facilities it contains. In these facilities, pilots overtake 4 phases of training conducted in accordance with the laws and standards of The Civil Aviation, issued by the Directorate of Civil Aviation and Meteorology. The School has witnessed numerous expansions since first established in 2003, and consequently is saving the Company a lot of funds previously spent on training abroad. Training in the Ground School is not only restrained to Oman Air’s pilots, but also can be conducted to other parties such as the training program which was conducted for the 8 Pilots from Spice Jet, a domestic carrier in India.
It is worth mentioning that the Flight Operations Ground School, in addition to Oman Air’s Training Centre are approved by the International Air Travel Association (IATA), to conduct technical and administrational training programs. Such programs are conducted by aviation experts certified by (IATA).
