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Emirates celebrates as 10,000th cabin crew graduates
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THAI boosts tourism to Thailand
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Tiffany “queens” charm Japanese
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Emirates celebrates as 10,000th cabin crew graduates
It was a momentous day at the Emirates Aviation College in Dubai as the
10,000th cabin crew graduated from the international airline’s intensive
training course.
Mohana Chonayah, the 10,000th graduate, arrived in Dubai six weeks ago
from her native Malaysia, where she was recruited after impressing
Emirates recruitment officers during the careful selection process.
 10,000
crew: Emirates’ 1,000th cabin crew purser and safety instructor Nassera
Benoumeur; the very first cabin crew senior flight purser Khalid Al
Alem; cabin crew 10,000 Mohana Chonayah; and purser Anna Guilas, cabin
crew 500.
She was one of the 61 new cabin crew at last week’s graduation ceremony
who has spent the last six weeks undergoing intensive training and
assessment at the world-class Emirates Aviation College in Dubai. The
graduates trained in state-of-the art facilities, including emergency
training simulators and full-scale aircraft mock-ups, along with medical
training accredited by the Royal College of Surgeons in Edinburgh to
ensure that Emirates’ passengers benefit from being in the best
qualified hands in the industry.
“I am so proud to be the 10,000th person to fly for Emirates,” said
Mohana, who is due to receive her first roster in the coming days. “I am
really excited to find out what cities I will be going in my first
month. My batch mates and I have all worked so hard throughout our
training and we can’t wait to put everything we learned into practice.”
Mohana was joined on stage by the first, 500th and 1,000th Emirates
cabin crew, all of whom are still flying with the multi-award winning
international carrier.
Senior flight purser Khalid Al Alem, from Jordan, joined Emirates in
September 1985, a month before its first flight even departed Dubai
International Airport for the two destinations it served back then,
Karachi and Mumbai.
Today Emirates serves more than 100 destinations on six continents with
a fleet comprising 111 passenger planes and 10 freighters.
“There were 78 cabin crew in our first batch,” Khalid reminisced.
“Things were completely different 23 years ago. We started with two
leased aircraft while today we operate the most sophisticated, advanced
machines in the world.
“When we started, Emirates was our baby. Today I look back and am so
proud to have grown with it. One of the most rewarding aspects of my job
is when I see new crew applying skills that I have passed onto them.”
In February 1994 Anna Guilas became the 500th cabin crew to join the
growing airline. Today she is a purser who has traveled the world in the
course of her work, overseeing the entire cabin operations on each
flight.
“What I love most about what I do,” she said, “is that no two days at
work are ever the same. I spend the whole month going to different
places, meeting new people, learning about different cultures.
“Every day is a new experience. Every flight is full of surprises that
you have to use the knowledge you have gained to deal with.”
Cabin crew 1,000, Nassera Benoumeur, was recruited 12 years ago in
London while on holiday from Spain.
“I was visiting my friend who was cabin crew for another airline,”
remembered Nassera, “when I saw the ad. My friend had heard what a great
airline Emirates was and encouraged me to go for it. So I did and I got
the job.”
And she has never looked back. Today Nassera splits her time between
working as a purser on the Airbus A380 and as a safety instructor
training cockpit crew and cabin crew from Emirates and other airlines at
the Emirates Training College.
“I love my career,” she enthused. “There are so many challenges involved
with being part of an airline growing as fast as Emirates. We are a
world-class airline, but we have worked so hard to achieve this.”
Emirates divisional senior vice president – service delivery Terry Daly
paid tribute to the 10,000-strong team of Emirates cabin crew, “Our
cabin crew occupy a special place in the Emirates family: they are the
public image of our great airline. It is their grace and professionalism
that helps to keep customers coming back to fly Emirates.”
He added that within five years, Emirates forecast the number of cabin
crew to tip 18,000. “Given our current aircraft order, we will
eventually need more than 20,000 crew.”
Jeyhun Efendi, Emirates’ area manager for Thailand and Indochina, said
that “currently Emirates has over 400 Thai cabin crews serving more than
100 destinations in over 60 countries around the world. This year, we
plan to recruit more Thai cabin crew personnel, who are very well known
for their service-orientation, kindness and friendliness, to cater to
our Thai passengers, joining our more than 10,000 multinational cabin
crew staffs from around the world.”
THAI boosts tourism to Thailand
Thai Airways International Public Company Limited (THAI) will hold mega
familiarization trips and events for media and travel agents from around
the world next week.
The mega familiarization trips and events are joint efforts of THAI and
the Tourism Authority (TAT). The number of tourist arrivals have
declined significantly due to the twin setbacks of a global fuel crisis
and ongoing political conflict in the country.
Pandit Chanapai, THAI’s commercial executive vice president, said with
many countries having issued travel advisories to their citizens to
avoid visiting Thailand and the resulting cancellation of bookings,
THAI, as the national carrier, with TAT are determined to take a lead,
along with other tourism organizations, to beat the tourism downturn and
boost business long term. The national carrier has always been
spearheading the tourism recovery efforts from the impact of major event
such as SARS and tsunami.
“We are encouraging our offices around the world to reassure customers
that Thailand is safe to visit. We are trying to mitigate any fallout
from the fuel and political issues with prompt and effective action
through the travel and tourism trade, where appropriate, that will be
positive for customers. Refunds, fee waiving and an interim payment were
made to passengers affected by cancellation of flights caused by the
recent political situation,” Pandit said.
Pandit has instructed all THAI overseas offices throughout the world to
accelerate their sales and marketing push. THAI has also obtained
assistance and recommendations from Star alliance for the mega
familiarization trip. Star Alliance, of which THAI is a founding member,
is the world’s largest airline network.
As part of Thailand’s tourism recovery plan, THAI and TAT will be
co-hosting a “Thailand Invitation” mega familiarization trip for over
800 media representatives and travel operators worldwide, all of which
will be flown to/from Thailand courtesy of THAI. From the official event
commencing on October 8, the participants will be presented with
opportunities to experience products from various categories presented
under the Seven Amazing Wonders of Thailand theme. They will be invited
to different part of the country, with travel itinerary featuring 30
routes, covering Northern and Northeastern Thailand as well as routes in
Phuket and Krabi.
Tiffany “queens” charm Japanese
Miss Tiffany Universes and supporting actors perform
in Sapporo.
Vimolrat Singnikorn
The abundant charms of transvestite Miss Tiffany Universe beauty queens
were borrowed by the Thailand Tourism Authority for a good cause recently: to
promote Japanese tourism to Thailand.
Last three years’ alluring winners of the Miss Tiffany Universe title, held at
the Tiffany Theatre in Pattaya, Kangsadan Wongdussadeekul (Nong Nohng, 2008),
Ratrawee Chiraprapakul (Nong Tong, 2006) and Tanyarat Chirapatarapakorn (Nong
Film, 2007), flew to Japan to show off Thai textiles and fashion design in
catwalks and stage performances.
TAT’s Tokyo Office organized the gala event at the Prince Hotel in Sapporo City
on August 28. It was all part of the fanfare for the Visit Thailand Year
2008-2009 promotion currently underway there, hosted by Patchaneerak Sawasdee,
director of the Tokyo Office.
The Thai transvestites took to the catwalk with Japanese models in the ballroom.
The host of the presentation amused and astounded the audience in the finale by
asking them to pick out the real woman in a line-up with the three Miss Tiffany
“queens”.
Very few in the audience made the correct choice.
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