Hello from Jeddah: Riyadh Air first cohort, now flying, from the Jeddah hotel industry, here to write the Saudi side honestly for the women asking whether

Mariam, Jeddah, Riyadh Air first cohort, now on the line after the training centre months Hassan and I posted about, and the introductions board has the Gulf from every side except the Saudi woman's, which is the side the messages ask me about most. So here I am properly.

Who I am

Jeddah born, hotel front office for four years at one of the big hotels on the Corniche, applied to Riyadh Air in the first wave because a new airline in my own country was a thing I did not expect to see in my working life, selected, trained in the first cohort, flying now on the first routes as the network opens.

Why I am here

Because the Saudi women asking whether to apply ask me three things and the forum has not had the answers from someone living it: whether the job is possible for a Saudi woman with a family that is conservative, what the uniform and the grooming standard are, and what the roster and the layovers mean for a woman from here. I will write those threads properly on the Riyadh Air and other Middle East boards, and the short version for the introduction is: yes, it is possible and my family came around; the uniform is modest and modern and the grooming standard is the industry's with the Saudi context; the roster is the Gulf roster and the layovers are the Gulf layovers and the women in my cohort do them, in groups where the senior crew suggest and alone where they do not.

What I can answer

The Riyadh Air selection and training from the inside, the first cohort experience, the Saudi applicant's documents and the Saudi visa process for the foreign crew (which I watched my foreign colleagues do), the Jeddah and Riyadh life for the crew, the family conversation for the Saudi women, and the honest things about building an airline from inside it (Hassan's thread has the men's version and mine will have the other one).

What I cannot answer

The other Gulf carriers from the inside (the Saudia crew on this forum, Tariq and Hamza, have Saudia; Omar has flynas). The pay in comparison beyond what the threads say. The future of the network beyond the announcements.

For the women in Jeddah and Riyadh reading

The recruitment is open and the cohorts are mixed and the Saudi women are in them. The family conversation is the hard part and I had it and will write about it. The job is the job and we are doing it. Ask me the things you cannot ask the recruiters.