The Royal Brunei Airlines' first all-female pilot crew have completed their maiden flight, landing in Jeddah in Saudi Arabia.
The crew, made up of Captain Sharifah Czarena Surainy, Senior First Officer Dk Nadiah Pg Khashiem and Senior First Officer Sariana Nordin completed the flight from Brunei to Jeddah to commemorate Brunei's National Day on February 23.
The airline announced the news by posting a photo of the crew in the cockpit of their Boeing 787 Dreamliner on Instagram.
The post mentioned that the airline is "the nation's generation with a vision".
It photo received more than 70 comments, with one person saying: "Congratulations to Royal Brunei for this wonderful first all-women crew flight... from all the women pilots of Air India."
Another comment read: "I'm flying Royal Brunei Airlines next month from Melbourne to London and back. I hope I get this crew for a leg."
After completing her initial pilot training at the Cabair Flying School in Cranfield, UK, Captain Czarena became the first female captain of a Southeast Asian carrier in 2012.
In an interview with The Brunei Times in 2012, she said people saw her occupation as being male dominant.
“As a woman, a Bruneian woman, it is such a great achievement," she said.
"It’s really showing the younger generation or the girls especially that whatever they dream of, they can achieve it."
In Saudi Arabia there is no official law banning women from driving, but deeply held religious beliefs prohibit it.
A group of Saudi women organised the 'Women2Drive' campaign in 2011 which encouraged women to post images and videos of themselves driving on Facebook, to raise awareness of the issues affecting women in the Kingdom.
Royal Brunei Airlines recently shared a post commemorating International Women's Day, as well as information to encourage more women to become pilots.
