Originally Posted by
SingleWing
Saudia is forcing all expat captains to request a six months unpaid leave as of April 15, 2020 otherwise face termination. This course of action is contrary to the labour law of the kingdom. They did this by telephone calls and refused to put it in writing. They wanted it to appear as if the captains are requesting the leave. Very dirty game by an airlines that is celebrating 75 years of service. Shame on the Saudia management!
As a proud saudi citizen (just like any other citizen) and a US pilot graduate, I'd like to say it's a necessary move to expat pilots.
Saudia airline/sacm paid for my bachelor's degree as well as the FAA pt. 141 pilot license and many others like myself due to the SAUDIZATION (just as many of yall worded it) in the industry. This pandemic has made a very soon future decision an immediate/necessary one, nothing more.
I believe there's nothing wrong with a country trying to improve itself socially and in everything (improve to change, and change to improve) We as saudis (its time) have to step up and take responsibility for all professions and jobs to work hard and prove that we deserve our offered free education domestically and overseas which we used to have all these years (and we get paid for going to school btw). In other words, it's not easy even for us as saudis to fill up every job in every field with not that much of an experience generally speaking, but as a prime rule for having a thriving organization/community we'll let a small loss take place instead of a big loss (long run goals - - vision2030)