JEDDAH: Saudi Arabian Airlines (SAA) expects that Saudis will soon fill all the pilot and co-pilot positions on its aircraft. According to Eng. Khaled Almolhem, Director General of SAA, some 88 percent, or 1,651 of the national carrier's pilots and copilots, are Saudis. Almolhem said Tuesday that the company has successfully finished a training program to qualify 2,003 crew members. He added that 446 of this group are pilots and co-pilots and 1,557 hosts and hostesses. They will all work on the Airbus 320 and 330 aircraft. “Since Saudia first started more than 65 years ago, the company has always been keen to prioritize its air operation sector,” Almolhem said. He added that Saudia has plans to ensure it can compare favorably with international air carriers. Almolhem noted that the decision to set up a company to handle maintenance has paid dividends. “We were able to train 10,867 professionals in 2010 over 201,469 training hours, which means training an employee more than once during the year,” he said. This underlines the professionalism of the maintenance staff who maintain the new fleet of aircraft at all airports. “Our maintenance members have global licenses which (qualifies) them to conduct maintenance on these aircraft,” said Almolhem. Meanwhile, Saudia has received 38 new Airbus planes, including 31 A320 aircraft, one A321 jet and six A330s. It is expected that Saudia would complete its fleet of 58 Airbus airplanes by 2011.
