Meet Rafah Kafaja

With over a decade of experience in aviation, Rafah got her start working with airlines in Dubai and Qatar. She loves connecting with people from different backgrounds and cultures and brought her broad depth of industry knowledge to Jacobs in 2017. She is now managing the familiarization, induction and training (FIT) program at Los Angeles International Airport (LAX).

In her work in operational readiness and airport transition (ORAT) at LAX, Rafah has led stakeholder engagement to learn about training processes and requirements ahead of new facility openings – including most recently the West Gates at Tom Bradley International Terminal.

To prepare staff and other stakeholders ahead of opening day, Rafah introduced them to and familiarized them with the new terminal by bringing them on a detailed walk. Knowing where to find things and how to get from place to place boosted staff members’ confidence and ultimately led to improved customer service from day one.

Beyond ensuring smooth operations, ORAT exercises help with identification and mitigation of risks and issues ahead of time. Though ORAT is common in other parts of the world and in other industries, it is leveraged less frequently among U.S. airports. Rafah sees this as an opportunity.

Always up for a challenge, she aims to go above and beyond to achieve clients’ goals and exceed their expectations.

Even though LAX has been Rafah’s first project in the United States, she views the aviation industry – and specifically the ORAT space – as a small world. One of her favorite parts of the job is reconnecting with colleagues she’s worked with before.