First
Saudi woman pilot to fly as driving debate rages on
 RIYADH
- While the debate over whether Saudi women should be
allowed to drive rages on, Captain Hanadi Hindi will soon become
the first woman to fly a plane with the private fleet of a
prince.
Hindi,
27, is preparing to take to the skies at a time when supporters
and opponents of lifting the ban on women’s driving in the
conservative kingdom are still fighting it out in the local
press.
“I
never meant to be a pioneer. When I started learning to become a
pilot, I did so for my father, who himself had aspired to be a
pilot. I then got attached to flying,” Hindi said by telephone
from her home in the Muslim holy city of Mecca.
Prince
Al Walid bin Talal’s decision to make Hindi part of his
private crew has drawn criticism from some conservative Muslim
scholars, who object to any easing of constraints that bar Saudi
women from mixing with men other than relatives or traveling
without the authorization of a male guardian.
But
Hindi said the billionaire entrepreneur’s Kingdom Holding
Company had also hired her father, Zakariya Hindi, as a legal
consultant.
He
will accompany her on all her trips “so that no one will say
that I am traveling without a male relative.”
Hindi
said she is heading to London in about three weeks for a
three-month training course before she takes up her job as a
pilot for Prince Al-Walid.
Kingdom
Holding hired Hindi even before she clinched her Commercial
Pilot’s Licence and an Instrument Rating (CPL and IR) from the
Mideast Aviation Academy in Jordan last month.
The
company, which runs a worldwide business empire, had offered
Hindi a scholarship to carry her through her last year at the
Jordanian academy, and Prince Al Walid took out doublespread
advertisements in the press to congratulate her on taking her
CPL.
“I
thank God that Prince Al-Walid has given me the opportunity to
serve my country and serve His Highness, bearing in mind that he
is a member of the royal family,” Hindi said.
Hindi
said that before the prince offered her a 10-year contract, she
feared she might not find a job in Saudi Arabia.
Her
apprehensions were well-grounded, given that women in the Muslim
country are still excluded from many professions that would
appear less controversial than piloting a plane and are the only
women in the world banned from driving a car.
The
appointed Shura (consultative) Council in May shelved the
suggestion of Mohammad Al Zalfa, who cited a host of economic
reasons to end the ban, such as the fact that the prohibition
has led to the presence of around a million foreign drivers who
cost the country 12 billion riyals (3.2 billion dollars) a year.
AFP
Photo
courtesy: sabbah.biz
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