Hanadi Zakaria al-Hindi

Who is Hanadi Zakaria al-Hindi?

Hanadi Zakaria al-Hindi is the first Saudi woman to become a commercial airline pilot. She was born in Mecca in September 1978. She passed her final exams at the Middle East Academy for Commercial Aviation in Amman, Jordan on 15 June 2005. She has a ten-year contract with Prince Al-Waleed bin Talal’s Kingdom Holding Company as a private pilot of his private jet, the Kingdom. Al-Waleed is considered a proponent for female emancipiation in the Saudi world, has financed her training and has stated on her graduation that he is "in full support of Saudi ladies working in all fields".

Reports highlighted the irony that a Saudi woman is allowed to pilot an aeroplane but may not drive a car. Al-Hindi, however, does not see this as a contradiction.