By Fatima Muhammad
JEDDAH — Employment in the aviation sector has long been achieved only through connections said Abdullah Al-Olayan, head of the labor and social development office in Makkah region. He noted that they would be monitoring the training and employment in this sector closely.
His reaction came after an intense comment from a mother of a young high school graduate who claimed she was not able to find a way to register her son in Saudi Academy of Civil Aviation for two years only to learn that the academy had already announced names of new students they had accepted.
The mother raised her concern by saying, “how can they name new applicants without letting the public know how to register! I have been following the academy but no announcements were there.”
The mother was speaking at an open discussion at Abdullah Dahlan center of the JCCI on Wednesday between the civil aviation investors and the Ministry of Labor.
The committee of the aviation agencies and the supporting services at the Jeddah Chamber of Commerce and Industry (JCCI) has proposed to the ministry to create a new private civil aviation academy that can train Saudi youth in all needed technical jobs that are in demand in the market.
The head of the committee Husain Al-Zahrani said that there will be a need for 15,000 jobs in Jeddah airport during the coming three years, with expectations that each airplane will need 69 employees serving it. He added that over 30,000 jobs would be needed in other Saudi airports.
According to him, Saudization has succeeded in administrative jobs in the aviation sector with minor Saudi participation in technical jobs. “The proposed academy will provide training in land services and technical services that include operations and different types of maintenance which all need high training to get licenses,” said Al-Zahrani.
However, he explained that Saudization does not mean that they will not employ expatriates because that will drive other countries to treat them equally.
He added that the proposed academy is expected to provide youth with needed experience and will reduce the amounts spent on getting the training abroad by at least 40%. “The growth is really great and there will be new aviation companies,” added Al-Zahrani.
Al-Olayan noted that they would support this positive move to create the academy. He expected that many young Saudis would be eager to get an opportunity in joining the aviation sector.
“We have succeeded in providing jobs for some 6000 individuals in the telecommunication sector and I am confident that the aviation sector will be attractive to youth,” added Al-Olayan.
