INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
Dalia Yashar, one of the first Saudi students who registered to become a commercial pilot
(Reuters)Dammam, Saudi Arabia: Oxford Aviation Academy, a leading trainer and crew recruiter, has already received applications from
hundreds of women hoping to start lessons in September at a new branch in the eastern city of Dammam."People used to travel abroad (to study
aviation), which was difficult for women more than men," said applicant Dalal Yashar, who aspires to work as a civil pilot."We are no longer
living in the era were women were allowed (to work) in limited arenas
All avenues are now opened for women
If you have the appetite, you have the ability," she said.The academy is part of a $300 million project that includes a school for aircraft
maintenance and an international centre for flight simulators at the airport.Students receive three years of academic and practical
training, said executive director Othman al-Moutairy.A decades-long ban on women driving, long seen as an emblem of women's repression in
the country, was lifted last month, as part of sweeping reforms pushed by powerful young Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman aimed at
transforming the economy and opening up its cloistered society.The lifting of the prohibition was welcomed by Western allies as proof of a
new progressive trend in Saudi Arabia, but it has been accompanied by a crackdown on dissent, including against some of the very activists
who previously campaigned against the ban. © Thomson Reuters 2018(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by
TheIndianSubcontinent staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
