Etihad Airways sees the graduation of 310 future leaders from company programme

Chairman of Etihad Aviation Group and board members Mohamed Mubarak Fadhel Al Mazrouei said: “We all share great pride and congratulate our graduates on what they have achieved. We also look forward to their contributions making Etihad Aviation Group even more successful and bringing us closer to our goals. The group has made a major commitment to investing in its people, the cornerstone of our service excellence and success.”

He added: “Over the past 13 years, the company has built a workforce of 27,000 employees, representing 150 nationalities to deliver world-class services. The team includes more than 3,000 UAE nationals, covering areas such as marketing, customer service, ground operations, cockpit crew, engineers and technicians.”

UAE nationals currently make up 29 per cent of the airline’s core staff and form the largest nationality group amongst Abu Dhabi-based employees. Emiratis are also the number one nationality occupying positions at manager level, executive level and in the cockpit.

The 310 graduates are spread throughout different divisions: 65 working as Cadet Pilots at Abu Dhabi University; 19 at Etihad Flight College in Al Ain and 74 graduates are based in Technical Engineering. A further 152 are learning about the business within the Graduate Management Development Programme based at various Etihad Airways offices.

James Hogan, Etihad Aviation Group president and chief executive officer, said: “A new batch of future leaders has graduated and they should be very proud of what they have achieved – the programmes are challenging and form a major commitment to learning and development. What is important for them now is to take this further and bring their new found knowledge into the business so we can work together to develop the next generation of leaders.

The star performer awards for 2016 were presented to Cadet Pilot, Abdalla Ismail Al Zarooni; Technical Engineer, Khalid Ismail Al Hammadi and Sales Manager for Los Angeles, Khamis Al Blooshi.

Attendees at the ceremony – the eighth of its kind - also heard from Aircraft Engineer, Muna Abdulkabeer, who reflected on her experiences in the programme, stating: “A friend encouraged me to apply to the Etihad Airways summer internship starting at the airport, and while I was nervous at first, I was overwhelmed by the support given by different levels of management within the company. 

“This led me to one of Etihad’s UAE National Development Programmes, and I’m now living my dream of being an Aircraft Engineer, working on one of the youngest fleets in the airline industry and supporting a key area of the UAE economy.”