Dr. Eng. Suaad Al Shamsi has always enjoyed playing with aircraft & car.

“Honestly,” the UAE’s first female Emirati aviation engineer told a media interview, “I preferred them to toys, dolls and makeup. I did try, but I could never get as excited and happy as I was playing with aircraft so I decided to pursue a career in the aviation industry.” The rest, as the cliché goes, is history. Dr. Eng. Al Shamsi, who holds an MBA in Aviation Management from Coventry University and a degree in erospace Engineering from Hertfordshire University both in the United Kingdom, soon buckled down to work after studying. Her journey in the aviation industry started when she joined many leading companies involved in aviation – such as Messier Bugatti, Honeywell, Kunz, Airbus, and Boeing – as a part of her training in the aircraft engineering field. She then joined Emirates, becoming the UAE’s first aircraft engineer and worked in the maintenance field for more than 10 years as she continued her growth in aviation. Dr. Eng. Al Shamsi currently serves as senior manager and technical advisor for one of the biggest aviation projects in the UAE – The Midfield Terminal Project, which is Abu Dhabi’s new airport with Etihad Aviation Group. This multi-awarded aviation specialist and mother of two continues to inspire other women to achieve their dreams, serving as one of the founders of Women in Aviation Middle East Chapter &the Ambassador of the International Union for Technical Education in the UAE.