From Flight Attendant To CEO

Zuks Ramasia is the perfect example of what people can achieve when they believe in themselves and pursue their ambitions.

- More Matshediso

Ramasia started her career as a flight attendant at the South African Airways (SAA) about 27 years ago, and now she is the Acting CEO of the airline.

“I remember being asked during the interview for the flight attendant post where I see myself in future and I said: ‘I see myself as a senior manager’,” she recalled.

At the time, Ramasia had a BA degree in Human Resource Development and BA Honours in English and Psychology from the then Rand Afrikaans University, now the University of Johannesburg.

Five years into her job as a flight attendant, Ramasia started teaching cabin crew and pilots about safety and procedure, which is crucial for the team to evacuate passengers safely from the flight in case of emergency.

A few years later, she applied for the Operations Manager position and got it.

“My career took off from there. I held various senior management positions at SAA and served on various boards within the aviation industry. I have not missed a single step on my way up to my current position,” she said. Along the way she obtained a Diploma in Airline Operations from the International Air Transport Association (IATA), which is a trade association of the world’s airlines.

She also graduated from the Leadership Development Programme offered by the University of Pretoria’s Gordon Institute of Business Science and a Postgraduate Diploma in Management from Henley Business School.

Ramasia said she is well aware of the high expectations that come with her current position.

SAA has a presence on every continent across the globe. It has a responsibility to ensure transportation of passengers in the safest way possible and on time to various destinations locally and abroad.

Part of its mandate is also to offer the most cost-effective customer experience to passengers.

“We call ourselves a world-class leading airline in Africa,” said Ramasia.