JEDDAH – The General Authority of Civil Aviation (GACA) has permitted Nexus, the first and only licensed company in Saudi Arabia to set up independent flight operations services, to train women as flight dispatchers or flight operations officers. At present there are no female flight dispatchers in the Kingdom, and Nexus is the first agency allowed to conduct such training. “We received many enquiries from Saudi female applicants interested in attending flight dispatcher training. So we approached GACA, and they gave us written permission to conduct flight dispatcher training for women in our training center in Jeddah with certain conditions,” Saleh Bogary, Vice President Charter Operations of Nexus Flight Operations Services, told Saudi Gazette. “We have not started the course for women as yet because we have to coordinate with GACA to make sure that everything is being done in the right way,” he said. Nexus in partnership with Flight Safety International is already offering flight dispatcher training to male students from within and outside the Kingdom. When Saudi Gazette visited the Nexus headquarters on Malik Road in Jeddah, students from Nigeria were attending classes. They have come to the Kingdom on a Nigerian government scholarship. “There is a dearth of flight dispatchers in the state of Sokoto,” said Shiitu Malam Usman, one of the students. Once a flight dispatcher had to be brought from Lagos to Sokoto to dispatch a flight, he recalled. A flight dispatcher has good job prospects and earns high salary, said Musa Mustapha, another student. Saidu Sarki Saadu, Nexus Managing Director who looks after the Nigeria operations, said that he approached the Sokoto governor offering the training to Nigerian students and so the students were sent to Jeddah on a scholarship. This is the fifth batch of students, but the first from outside the Kingdom, to attend the training, said Bogary. The earlier four batches comprised residents of Saudi Arabia – both Saudis and expats. Thomas Anderson, International Dispatch Instructor who gives training to the students at Nexus center, admitted that there was a lack of awareness about the flight dispatch specialty. “Many people don't realize that a flight dispatcher is required,” he said. The flight dispatcher training program runs for six weeks on a full-time basis. The course is approved by GACA, and is in compliance with the US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA). The 24-hour course costs $7,500. Under GACA regulations each course should have 18 students. The flight dispatcher course is one of many services offered by Nexus, which has almost 25 years of experience and has served some of the most elite clients in the Middle East and Africa. It offers services ranging from global concierge and flight dispatch to crew scheduling and maintenance management. “Our flight dispatch operation is divided into various teams to take care of concierge and support services as well as dispatching, scheduling and vendor relations,” said Claudio Pereira, Manager Service Excellence, as he stood in the flight dispatch center where giant TV screens displayed patterns and charts and team members were glued to their computer screens. “It's a 24-hour operation seven days a week,” he said.
