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'Be a captain, open the door': How two Emirati women pilots broke into the cockpit
Like Bakhita, Hanan was the first person in her family to become a pilot, which proved to be a challenge as her family were very protective of her
- PUBLISHED: Tue 30 Jun 2026, 3:50 PM UPDATED: Tue 30 Jun 2026, 3:52 PM
As Bakhita Al Mheiri found herself surrounded by a roomful of men in her first year of training as a cadet pilot, she slipped into the bathroom. Anxious, she called her mother, who replied with a phrase that completely changed her whole mindset: “So what?”
As the only female trainee in her course during her time at Emirates’ National Cadet Pilot Programme, Bakhita felt out of place, but her mother’s call drove her forward on her path.
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“If my mom had reacted differently to the phone call that I gave her the first time I was in college, the outcome of my future would have been different,” she told Khaleej Times. “She told me, ' Look, if you have something important, tell me. Now is your chance. Otherwise, I have work to do.”
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Bakhita’s accomplishments carried more weight with her guardians. Her father passed away when she was 10, which prompted her maternal uncle to raise her alongside her mother. Neither her parents nor her uncle finished their studies or got any diploma, but when Bakhita expressed desires to become a pilot, they told her, “Be a captain. Open the door for other people.”
And so she joined in 2011, after which the Dubai native then spent two and a half years abroad in Spain as part of her studies. Twelve years later, Bakhita is now one of the first two female Emirati captains at Emirates, and one of the very few across the whole country.
“The support I got from everybody around me, my parents, my colleagues, the whole of the UAE, is something that's amazing to see,” she said of the news of her becoming the Emirates’ first female captain.
Fully cemented dream
When Hanan Mohammed Jawad saw a picture of Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum in the cockpit of a fighter jet, that’s when she knew she wanted to fly the skies.
When she was 14, she saw an interview on television with the first Emirati female pilot, and the idea of becoming a pilot was further cemented. “I said to myself, I can do it, as she has done it. So there is a possibility for females to be in the cockpit.”
Like Bakhita, Hanan was the first person in her family to become a pilot, which proved challenging because her family was very protective of her. Eventually, they gave in, with Hanan becoming their source of pride as she was promoted earlier this month to captain.
Her favourite thing about flying, she says, is that no two days are the same. There are also moments when she drifts high above the skies, looking at the sunset at 39,000 feet, which makes her love her job even more.
For the next generation of aspiring female pilots, Hanan hopes they leave with this message: “If they have the dream, they have to follow it and work hard for it. There is nothing impossible, as His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid said, ‘There is nothing impossible in our dictionary’.”
Hind Aldah is a business reporter based in Sharjah. In her spare time, you will find her playing classical guitar, painting amateur oil paintings, or crocheting the same old scarf that leads nowhere.