Jazza Al-Shammari

From delivering mails for Saudi Aramco to captaining Saudi Arabian Airlines’ first flight to New York, Jazza Al-Shammari’s career story is unique.

“I started my career as a postman with Saudi Aramco in 1959 and continued the primary studies at the same time. I was soon promoted as an accountant” he told local media.

Al-Shammari, who has flown a record number of flights, was speaking on the sidelines of a celebration organized by the Saudi Arabian Airlines upon receiving two Boeing 787-9 Dreamliners in Jeddah recently.

“The same year, in 1959, I took up a job in the administration department of Saudia. I booked a trip from Dhahran to Riyadh, then to Jeddah on a Convair helicopter. It was the first time in my life I ever flew,” he said.

He soon joined a course in aviation offered by Saudi Arabian Airlines. “At that time the number of cars was also less and I could not even drive. However, I passed the aviation tests and after eight months, I was qualified as a co-pilot of a DC-3 plane. After three years, I became a pilot. Then I switched to fly the Convair 340, and after two years i flew a C-9 plane,” he said.

Al-Shammari said that in 1968, he became the captain for Boeing 707. “I was about 28 years of old then. In fact, I was the youngest pilot among all American pilots. I had acquired the ALTP certificate, one of the highest pilot ratings.”

On his first flight ever, he said: “It was in January 1961, from Jeddah to Port Sudan to Khartoum and back to Jeddah via Port Sudan. It was a test flight and the pilot was Capt. Baha Aldeen Asad, who later became the first aviation school principal in Jeddah.”

Al-Shammari has has 43 years of experience in flying and has occupied many senior positions and memberships in local and international organizations.

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