Jeddah: Royal Brunei Airlines introduced its first ever all-female flight crew which made their first journey to Saudi Arabia, a country where women are still not allowed to drive.
Kingdom is the world’s only country to ban women from driving.
An image shared by Royal Brunei’s Instagram account in February shows female flight crew Captain Sharifah Czarena and senior first officers Sariana Nordin and Dk Nadiah Pg Khashiem sitting in the cabin of a Boeing 787 Dreamliner from Brunei to Jeddah.
The landmark moment coincided with Brunei’s National Day which marks the state’s full independence from the UK in 1984.
Captain Czarena told The Brunei Times in 2012: “Being a pilot, people normally see it as being a male-dominant occupation.
“As a woman, a Bruneian woman, it is such a great achievement. It’s really showing the younger generation or the girls especially that whatever they dream of, they can achieve it.”
In 2015, Saudi Arabia for the first time allowed women to cast their vote in municipal elections, a decision taken by the late King Abdullah and is seen as a crucial part of his legacy.