Archive photo of an all-female Egyptian aircraft crew
By Akram Medhat
Egypt is hosting the annual meeting of The Ninety-Nines, the international organization of women pilots, to be held in Cairo from October 27 to 29 this month under the patronage of Minister of Civil Aviation Sherif Fathy.
The event comes amid the interest of the political leadership and the Egyptian government in the role of women and in expanding their participation in various activities, and in recognition of the success Egyptian women have achieved in many different fields, including civil aviation.
The Ninety-Nines was founded in 1929 in the United States with a membership of 99 female pilots, hence its name, and now includes 5,000 women civil aviation pilots around the world. It is a non-profit organization that aims to spread aviation culture among women, introduce them to the importance of the aviation field, and provide scholarships and training grants to those wishing to learn to fly.
The organization includes 56 sections around the world, among them the Arabian Section, founded in 1989 in Saudi Arabia and headed by Captain Alia Twal, a Jordanian national. The Arabian Section includes 110 Arab women pilots, 7 of them Egyptian, and is one of the largest sections in the organization after the United States, which has increased its importance globally.
