Etihad Airways has welcomed Noora Al Marri, its 1,000th Emirati member of staff, to the airline.

Noora, who is 23 years old and from Abu Dhabi, recently joined the airline’s graduate manager development program (GMDP).

Noora was encouraged to join the UAE’s national airline by her husband Faisal Al Naqbi, an officer cadet from batch 19 of the cadet pilot program, who joined in the beginning of 2011.

Ray Gammell, Etihad Airways Chief People and Performance Officer, said: “We are delighted to welcome Noora, the airline’s 1000th Emirati employee, to the Etihad Airways family.

“Etihad Airways recognises the vital role of UAE nationals in the ongoing development and running of our business and we look forward to supporting Noora as she embarks on her career with Etihad Airways, the UAE’s national airline.”

Etihad Airways now employs more than 1,000 UAE nationals across its seven divisions, with Emiratis comprising 21 per cent of the airline’s core employee workforce.

Noora Al Marri said: “Joining Etihad Airways was a dream-come-true for me because it has such a fantastic reputation as an employer in the Emirati community and it was ideal as Faisal my husband was already part of the Etihad Airways team.

“I am thrilled to be the 1,000th Emirati employee to join the company, and that accolade is sure to give me extra motivation over the coming weeks of the graduate management development program’s induction phase.”

Etihad Airways has received widespread praise for its Emiratisation recruitment strategy which includes programs for graduate managers, cadet pilots, technical engineers, sales managers, guest service agents, contact centre agents, and airport operations managers.

Within the internal talent development scheme, 34 UAE nationals, who started their careers in one of Etihad Airways’ Emiratisation programs, recently took up positions at the airline’s offices and airport destinations across the world.

These positions include sales, finance and airport manager roles in locations such as Australia, Germany, Indonesia, Ireland, Japan, Korea, Morocco, Switzerland, the US, and the United Kingdom.

Ray Gammell added: “Etihad Airways is immensely proud of its Emiratisation recruitment strategy and programs which have achieved great success since being launched in 2007, with 21 per cent of our core work force being Emirati.”

“Etihad Airways is renowned as one of the UAE’s leading employers offering Emiratis exciting and highly productive career opportunities in the country and overseas and we look forward to building on this as the company expands further.”

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