Saudi Arabia announced on Sunday the creation of a second national airline, showing its ambition to turn Riyadh into an air hub capable of competing with its Gulf competitors.
The new airline will be headed by Tony Douglas, a former director of Etihad Airways, the Emirati carrier of Abu Dhabi, he said.
Triple your air traffic
As part of the ambitious reform program of its crown prince, Mohammed bin Salman, the oil monarchy has set a goal of tripling its air traffic to 330 million passengers by the end of the decade.
Last November, the authorities announced the construction of a new 57-square-kilometre airport in Riyadh, set to receive 120 million travelers by 2030 and 185 million by 2050.
Riyadh Air will operate a “fleet of state-of-the-art aircraft,” the SPA agency said without specifying the number or type of aircraft.
The Wall Street Journal reported Saturday that the sovereign wealth fund was “close to a deal” with plane maker Boeing for an order “estimated at $35 billion.”
Saudi Arabia’s busiest international airport is currently in the coastal city of Jeddah, which welcomes millions of Muslims who make the pilgrimage to Mecca each year, and where the national airline Saudia is based.
Compete with Dubai and Doha
The kingdom wants to make its capital “a cosmopolitan city that rivals cities like Dubai and Doha in terms of investment, tourism and infrastructure,” Khalil Lamrabet, a former head of the Saudi air connectivity program, told AFP last November.
Authorities are trying to position Riyadh as a rival to the regional business hub Dubai in the United Arab Emirates, whose airline is the largest in the Middle East.
Riyadh currently has a population of eight million, but authorities hope to increase that number to more than 15 million by 2030.
If it is considered that the regional market is already “saturated”, Saudi airlines have the advantage, compared to their competitors Emirates or Qatar Airways, of being able to count on an internal market of around 35 million inhabitants, analysts estimate.
Source: BFM TV
