Srinagar woman gives wings to her aspirations

Srinagar: A resident of downtown Srinagar, Iram Habib is set to become the first woman from the city to fly a commercial aircraft.

According to a report in The Tribune newspaper, Iram (30) kept her dream to fly an aircraft alive despite pursuing a master’s degree in forestry from the Sher-e-Kashmir University of Agricultural Sciences and Technology, Kashmir.

“I pursued Ph.D. for one and a half years but left it and went to a US flight school,” she says. “I looked for things on my own and kept my dream alive,” The Tribune quoted Iram as having said.

In 2016, Iram completed her training from Miami in the US and returned to India to get a commercial pilot license.

Iram said that she had 260 hours of flying experience from the US and that she got a commercial pilot license in the US and Canada on the basis of her flying hours.

She had also trained in Bahrain and Dubai in Airbus 320, the report mentioned.

“During my training and exams everyone would be surprised to see a woman from Kashmir as a pilot, but there was no discrimination. I worked hard and got a job offer from Indigo and GoAir. I am set to join as a first officer in Indigo next month,” she added.