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At the Riyadh International Convention and Exhibition Centre (RICEC), where the 4th Global Airports Forum (GAF) concluded in December 2025, the annual general assembly for Women in Aviation Middle East took place. Amidst all the technical panels on subjects such as AI-driven “smart airports,” a very human issue took centre stage: the Women in Aviation Middle East (WIA-ME) scholarship announcements.
The WIA-ME Chapter announced a scholarship fund exceeding USD 150,000 headlined by the award of a full EASA Airline Transport Pilot Licence (ATPL) programme to Rahaf Kaddoura, valued at over $130,000. Orchestrated through the Intercontinental Aviation Academy (FlyIAA), this “Ab-Initio” pathway is designed to take Kaddoura from zero experience to a commercial flight deck, meeting the rigorous standards of the European Union Aviation Safety Agency.
Intercontinental Aviation Academy represtatives at the Riyadh General Assembly / Credit: Intercontinental Aviation Academy (IAA)
The Cognitive Cockpit: Aviation’s New Frontier
The technical “Fundamentals of Aviation” scholarships awarded to Luma Sahawneh, Chaimae Baroudi, and Lamar Aldera, also delivered by FlyIAA, provide the bedrock for future pilot and management talent. The 4-month course focuses on the theoretical foundations required for all aviation stakeholders, from ground operations to initial pilot training. By sponsoring these foundational steps, WIA-ME creates a “talent reservoir” of women who are academically prepared for the next phase of flight training.
However, the 2025 assembly for Women in Aviation Middle East introduces a critical “Second-Order Insight”. Five fully funded places, valued at USD 20,000, were allocated to a specialised Emotional Intelligence (EQ) for Pilots programme in partnership with Airman’s Ground, signalling a move beyond mere representation toward a focus on “Cognitive Cockpits”—the psychological and human performance standards required for the next generation of flight decks.
As modern cockpits transition toward semi-autonomous systems, the industry is identifying “emotional clarity and situational awareness” as the next major skills gap. This focus on the “Human Factor” seeks to prepare aviators for the psychological resilience required in the high-stress, AI-augmented environments of 2030.
The Human Factor: Beyond the Controls
As flight decks become increasingly automated, the focus shifts from hardware to “wetware”- from the machine to the human element. The awards from Airman’s Ground focus on the Pilot Health Intelligence Training (PHIT) programme, which addresses the emotional intelligence and neuroscience-driven decision-making responsible for up to 80% of aviation incidents.
Captain Qadar Safraz , CEO of Airman’s Ground
In an interview with Aljaweea, the CEO of Airman’s Ground, Captain Qadar Sarffraz explained that their investment is a calculated move to dismantle “biased” selection processes common in traditional aviation. “I believe every institute should have scholarships for those who deserve it,” the CEO said, framing Airman’s Ground as a “trend setter” by offering fully funded seats open to all nationalities.
This cohort highlights a significant geopolitical shift: the Middle East is now a global benefactor of aviation expertise. While the Chapter is regional, the scholarships for PHIT were awarded to airline pilots from Canada and Slovakia as well as the UAE. “We find the best one… who will utilise the knowledge,” the CEO stated, noting that their student body now spans 25 different countries.
From Representation to Power
Key to the assembly’s mandate was the creation of a professional pipeline for female aviators, enabled through partnerships with the sponsoring training organisations, intended to mitigate the financial barriers associated with advanced flight qualifications.
As the final sessions concluded at RICEC, the significance of the moment crystallised: this wasn’t only about filling quotas or awarding scholarships. The 2025 WIA-ME General Assembly marked a significant shift in how the industry approaches talent development. By investing in both the technical foundations and the cognitive capabilities of future aviators, the Middle East is redefining what it means to be flight-ready in an era of AI-augmented cockpits.
The convergence of Saudi ambition, UAE training excellence, and global talent creates a new aviation ecosystem, one where emotional intelligence carries equal weight with technical proficiency, where women move from the margins to the centre of innovation, and where the Middle East emerges as both a global connector and an incubator for the next generation of aviation leadership.
As Captain Sarffraz noted, this is about finding those who will “utilise the knowledge.” In funding the “Cognitive Cockpit”, these institutions are engineering a fundamental transformation in who gets to fly them and how they think. The cockpits of 2030 won’t just be more automated; if the Riyadh model succeeds, they’ll be more human.
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