Personal data
Place of residence: Dubai
Marital status: Married
Scientific certificates:
Bachelor's degree in Electrical Engineering - University of Florida International (1988)
Higher Diploma in Aeronautical Engineering - Higher Colleges of Technology (1992)
MBA - University of Wollongong, Australian (1997)
Career path
Aircraft engineer - Emirates Airlines (1992-2006).
Engineer of Maintenance Planning (2006-2012).
Director of Aviation Quality (2012-2016).
CEO of the Engineering Department - in one of the airlines in the region (2016-2018).
What is the point in your life representing, which represents a milestone in your career?
Since my first childhood, my father instilled in me the values of self-reliance. My father was a merchant traveling the countries from east to west. During these trips, he realized the importance of education and language, although he did not get education. So he enrolled me in the first elementary semester at Buns School in India. It was a semi-military British school in which I studied for a year and learned the grammar of Indian language and English. So language skills were the first thing I gained, in addition to the French and Spanish languages which I learned during the period of my study and scholarship to study abroad. Then I traveled again to study at the National University in Aley. After completing the secondary level, I have been sent by the state on an educational scholarship to the United States of America, where I studied electrical engineering at the University of Florida International, Florida, USA. Soon after, I have worked in America for a while, then returned home and joined her first job in Emirates Airlines.
You have combined between three different specializations. What is the reason for your studies in these fields?
Ambition .. Since the beginning of my life, and I have had a personal desire to create a career full of achievements and, on the general level, to provide something that will have a great impact in promoting the country's renaissance, especially I have experienced that period in which the UAE was proceeding from stage to another in the development process. So I worked hard to enroll in a specialization that would help me achieve this ambition. After I finished engineering, I have believed that this specialization may not meet my full aspirations to achieve these desires. So I have sought to add a new specialization, which is aeronautical engineering. Indeed, I have already got into Higher College of Technology, and I was one of the few who have worked in the field of aeronautical engineering at this time. During my work journey, I have realized that in order to move from technical work to higher job levels through which you can achieve ambitions, it is necessary to study the field of business administration in order to combine the technical and administrative aspects. This specialization later has contributed to a qualitative leap in my life by joining one of the companies that I succeeded in achieving all of my aspirations through it.
So ... could you tell us a little bit about the nature of your business in the field of aviation and how did you proceed in it?
After graduating from the University of Florida, I have worked for a while in America at TEF, a company specialized in electronic panels in gas measuring and sensitive devices in cars and coolants, and anything in general that contains electronic motors. I have learned to work on these panels and how to make them. Upon returning home, I thought about breaking into another field and decided to study aircraft engineering and specialized in flaps in the wings of aircraft that help them when taking off and landing. Then, I have trained on many aircraft engine systems and structures and obtained 11 licenses in many different types of aircraft engines. I have much experience and know-how to maintain and evaluate aircraft upon landing and give them permission to take off. Here I would like to point out that the best and most important moment in the life of an aircraft technician is the moment when permission is given to allow a plane to take off. Although he continues to follow up the plane until it reaches its runway, but this does not prevent him from feeling this defining moment in his career since his education until he issues this permission.
How was the progress of your stations through working in the field of aviation?
During my work in the field of aircraft maintenance, I have issued from 8 to 15 permissions every day after making sure that the plane meets all safety standards following the maintenance of it. After 10 years in the field of aircraft maintenance, I turned to aircraft maintenance in hangars, where maintenance is provided to the plane between 3 days to more than a month sometimes and I have gained great experience in this field. Then I have stopped providing maintenance and moved to the field of supervising the maintenance. I then had an accident, after which I have moved to the Aviation Planning Section, the division responsible for programing the aircraft when it was serviced in the hangars. After 6 years of working in hangars, I have turned to working in the Quality Department, which is concerned with checking the quality of aircraft maintenance, where I spent three years. Then I became a manager of this department; and at this level, my career progression stopped. So, I have decided to stop working and retire until a new opportunity comes to achieve other leaps in this field?
Did you achieve your goal after that?
In fact yes .. during the period of work I have gained a lot of experiences in the field of aviation and its maintenance and other matters related to quality. During this time, I was contacted by one of my friends who made me an offer from one of the airlines in the region. Although I did not want to travel outside the country, the experience was of value ... During this period of my work, I made achievements which I did make along 20 years. My position an executive position has helped me to make a big change at the level of this company. I have initially found an environment that might not support my aspirations for change, especially as the employees and sector managers remain in their positions for long periods without change. At this point, I made a fundamental change by rotating the jobs in this company in order to increase the experiences of employees, and also benefit from the ideas of some of them, since these employees had already have experience. Yet, the lack of having spaces to submit their ideas and suggestions to the officials left the routine prevailing over this company. My first position in this company was the CEO of the Maintenance Quality Department. At this point, the matter was like the person who has been born again, as all your options became available to achieve what you aspired to in the previous work. So I started to change the system of work, entertainment and privileges, so this contributed to creating a wonderful atmosphere for all employees at work. After that we started reaping the benefits of this change and everyone was offering much more than they are paid because of the feeling that someone is interested in the details of their lives. We used to organize parties, paid tribute to them for their efforts and give them many rewards. Within 6 to 7 months, the work environment has changed completely, and important roles have been assigned to some employees whom I have confidence in their ability to assume responsibility, thus reducing the centrality of work. Thankfully, I succeeded in creating common ground among all the employees of this company, until one day the president of the company called me quickly.
What happened in these hours?
In the meantime, the CEO of the company engineering department resigned, and when I sat at the meeting table with the company president, he offered me a high position and said: "Due to your efficiency you have demonstrated during the last period, we in the company are looking forward to assigning you as the CEO of the aviation department. We all have confidence in you to carry out the tasks of this position, but I refused. So he gave me 72 hours to think and then give them my response. During this period, I did not sleep day or night especially when I think about managing more than 220 aircraft, including 182 large aircrafts, 24 private aircrafts, 15 royal aircrafts and others, in addition to bearing the responsibility of 5 thousand employees, and financial management of aircrafts worth more than 15 billion dirham. At the end of the matter I said to myself why not.. Is not this the greatest adventure that I was looking forward to one day.. Why I feel fear.. Indeed I informed the president of the company of a decision to accept the offer.. Thanks to Allah, within 6 months I managed to perform all of my duties to the fullest. I was working day and night and my phone is open for 24 hours to receive calls at any moment, as there are hundreds of trips that constantly need decisions which can never be postponed, in particular the matter was about the people's time and the reputation of a company.
Certainly you faced many difficulties and challenges during this career?
Aviation is one of the difficult field and you need to spend a lot of effort and time. But at the end, it is a profession like any profession you love and fulfill your work in it. What distinguishes this profession and is a challenge at the same time is that the aviation industry is one of the rapidly changing industries, in which the latest technology is applied. Consequently, these changes must be kept pace with, learned and studied in order to be in line with their changes. Aircraft differ in their systems and engines, and a single plane may contain more than one system. The challenge here is how you can learn and master these systems to excel other persons and be requested and trusted; and you can progress to reach the best positions. So I want to say that the challenge here is how to manage change to your benefit.
How could you overcome challenges?
To overcome any challenges in the field of aviation and any field in general, you have to exert four times your effort. Aviation is a block of problems. Here, we are talking about matters concerned with speed, competition with reputation, people's lives in politics, and other variables that make you in a race against time in order to develop innovative concepts and solutions in the moment for any challenge that you can face and turn it into an opportunity.
What advice would you like to give to your retired brothers and young children?
In my view, the energy in human life is of two types: an inner energy in which he is driven by his beliefs, ideas, and principles; and external energy concerning with charisma and his ability to influence others. As far as the inner energy is full of positivity and other noble qualities and values, as much as I was able to influence people to the extent you affect the life of mankind towards good, righteousness, peace, love, brotherhood and cooperation to serve each other and serve their societies. Therefore, I urge my retired brothers or youth to equip themselves with these positive values and learn the rules of influencing people in a way that helps them to manage their lives correctly and in the direction that serves our country, upholds its value and strengthens its position regionally and globally, and so that our country would remain the lighthouse of knowledge and the oasis of tolerance.
