Selling veggies to changing car tyres, Goan youth turn humble starts into flying careers

Panaji: Sitting behind a rack of vegetables and fruits in her father’s shop at Porvorim, 23-year-old Samiran Banu Maglani still can’t believe that her dream of becoming an airhostess has turned into a reality. From weighing vegetables to cruising altitudes, Samiran’s journey has been one of grit and determination.Raised amid the bustle of her father’s fruit and vegetable stall, Samiran spent her teens helping with sales and stocking the shelves. But behind the counter, Samiran nurtured a lofty dream: To fly as a cabin crew one day.“I never saw an airport before...never flew in an aircraft, but I wanted to become an air hostess. I tried to join many airlines, but I was rejected in the second or third round. Becoming a cabin crew was a dream I chased since I was 19,” says Samiran.Today, she starts her workday at 4am, serving passengers on board early morning flights of Goa-based FLY91, and returns home by early afternoon — just in time to help her father back at the stall. Though she failed the first round of training, she asked for another chance and proved her mettle.Nearly 35km away from where Samiran lived, Atul Ulhas Chari was leading the life of a dairy farmer at Keri, Ponda.Having ventured into dairy farming, the 29-year-old realised it wasn’t as easy as he thought it to be. As the venture grew too fast, the debts also mounted. Forced to abandon the business, Atul turned to driving cars to repay loans.That’s when an advertisement caught his eye — FLY91 was looking for drivers. After the heartbreak of watching his entrepreneurial dreams slip away, he knew he needed to start over. He decided it was time to chart a more stable course — and chose driving as his new profession.However, a serendipitous conversation with the airline’s management led to a gamble that appears to have paid off. Atul was put in the line maintenance department, a role that he soon excelled at.“Now, I’m living a life I never dreamt of,” says Atul. “From changing a car tyre, now I can change an aircraft tyre in less than 45 minutes.”He has risen through the ranks to work in the engineering and maintenance stores division at Mopa and could soon shift to ground support equipment. “It’s a proud feeling that a local boy from a non-aviation background is getting an opportunity to work on an aircraft,” he says.If Samiran and Atul’s stories were of dreams turning into reality, 29-year-old Pranesh Fadte from Old Goa was fortuitous that he got into the airline company as a driver. Pranesh had returned home from Mumbai after finishing his training in aircraft maintenance engineering. With no job openings and pandemic worsening his prospects, the 29-year-old finally took up work as a driver.It was while driving the airline’s CEO and MD, Manoj Chacko, and chief operating officer Chenna Reddy that during a casual chat, Fadte, prompted by Chacko and Reddy, revealed his technical qualifications. And from there his journey started.“They told me they would give me a chance once the airline started,” he recalls. True to their word, after training, Pranesh joined as an aircraft technician. Today, he works 12-hour shifts inspecting oil levels, tyre conditions, and brakes, and coordinating with pilots before every flight.“When I thought of setting up the FLY91 base in Goa, many advised me against it, saying we wouldn’t find satisfactory talent here. However, we found out that was not the case,” says Chacko.Of the nearly 300-strong workforce, many, like Samiran, Atul, and Pranesh, are first-generation aviation professionals.