(, based in
Jeddah . It operates domestic and international scheduled flights to over 70 destinations in the
Middle East ,
Africa ,
Asia ,
Europe and
North America . It also operates domestic and international charter flights. Its main base is
King Abdulaziz International Airport , (JED), Jeddah, with hubs at
King Khalid International Airport (RUH),
Riyadh and
Dhahran International Airport (DHA). The Dhahran International Airport is now closed for passenger traffic and is now used only as a military base. However in December 1999, a new airport called
King Fahd International Airport has become operational at
Dammam (DMM) for the passenger planes.
Saudi Arabian Airlines is a member of the
Arab Air Carriers Organization .
The airline was founded as Saudi Arabian Airlines in
1945 with the gift of a
Douglas DC-3 presented to
King Abdul Aziz by the then US
President Roosevelt and began operations with a service between Jeddah and
Dhahran . The first international route to
Damascus was opened on 10 June
1945 . The airline was considered an operating agency of the Ministry of Defense. That same year, their first airport was established in
Kandara , a district of
Jeddah .
During the rest of the
1940s Saudi Arabian expanded, serving new cities (
Cairo ,
Damascus and
Beirut ), providing a
Hajj Pilgrimage service flown from
Lydda in
British Palestine , and purchasing two more DC-3s. Saudi Arabian also received substantial logistical and mechanical help from
American airline
TWA , and in
1949 , the first of five
Bristol 170 s was received. These planes allowed Saudi Arabian to carry both passenger and cargo on the same flights.
The slow but steady growth continued during the -->
The
1960s became a very important decade for Saudi Arabian Airlines. In
1962 , the airline took delivery of two
Boeing 720 s, making history by becoming the first
Middle Eastern airline to fly jets. On
February 19 ,
1963 , the airline became a registered company, with King
Faisal signing the papers that declared Saudi Arabian a fully independent company.
DC-6 s and
Boeing 707 s were later bought, the airline joined the Arab Air Carriers Organization, or AACO, and services were started to
Sharjah ,
Tehran ,
Khartoum ,
Dubai ,
Bombay ,
Tunis ,
Rabat ,
Tripoli ,
Frankfurt ,
Geneva , and
London .
The
1970s brought many changes for Saudi Arabian. A new livery was introduced, the operating name was changed from Saudi Arabian Airlines to Saudia on 1 April
1972 , and
Boeing 737 and
Boeing 747 equipment began use. The 737s replaced the
DC-9 s. The first all-cargo flights between Saudi Arabia and
Europe were also started, and
Lockheed L-1011 s and
Fairchild F-27 s were introduced. New services, including the ''Arabian Express'' no reservation shuttle flights system for the Jeddah to Riyadh route, and the ''Special Flight Services'' (SFS), were founded. Special Flight Services is still a service the airline offers for government-related and celebrity flights.
Rome ,
Paris ,
Muscat ,
Kano , and
Stockholm were inaugurated as Saudi Arabian Airlines cities. Joint operations with
Pan Am from Jeddah to
New York started on 3 February
1979 .
Some new non-route-related services opened during the , passing over
Africa and
Europe , before landing in
North America ),
Madrid ,
Singapore ,
Manila ,
New Delhi ,
Islamabad ,
Seoul ,
Baghdad ,
Amsterdam ,
Colombo ,
Nice ,
Lahore ,
Brussels ,
Dakar ,
Kuala Lumpur and
Taipei . ''Horizon Class'', a
Business Class service, was established between Jeddah and Cairo, and cargo hubs were built at Brussels and Taipei.
Airbus A300 s,
Fokker F-28 s, and
Cessna Citations were also added to the fleet, the Citations for the SFS service. To finish the decade, services were introduced in
1989 to
Larcana and
Addis Ababa .
In the
1990s services were introduced to
Orlando ,
Chennai ,
Tokyo ,
Asmara ,
Washington, D.C. ,
Johannesburg ,
Alexandria ,
Athens ,
Milan ,
Málaga , and
Sanaa .
Boeing 777 s,
McDonnell Douglas MD-90 s and
MD-11 s were introduced, smoking was banned on certain flights to
Muslim countries as well as on all domestic flights, and new stewardess uniforms designed by Adnan Akbar were introduced. A new corporate identity was launched on 16 July
1996 , featuring an elegant
Sand coloured
Fuselage with contrasting dark
Blue tailfin, the centre of which featured a stylised representation of the
House Of Saud crest. The Saudia name was dropped in the identity revamp, and Saudi Arabian Airlines was resurrected.
On 8 October
2000 , Prince
Sultan Bin Abdul Aziz Al Saud , the Saudi Minister of Defence & Aviation, signed a contract to conduct studies for the
Privatisation of Saudi Arabian Airlines. In preparation for privatisation, the airline is currently restructuring to allow non-core units including catering, ground handling services and maintenance as well as the Prince Sultan Flight Academy in Jeddah, to transform into commercial units and profit centres. In April
2005 , the Saudi government indicated that the airline may also lose its monopoly on domestic services
1 .
Saudi Arabian Airlines did not achieve operational profits until
2002 , which doubled in
2003 . In 2004 the airline carried over 15 million passengers and recorded a 14% rise in profits.
The airline ordered 15
Embraer 170 aircraft in a deal worth $400 million in April 2005.
Saudi Arabian suffered the first of two major air tragedies on 19 August
1980 .
Saudia Flight 163 , a
Lockheed L-1011 on a flight from
Karachi to Jeddah via Riyadh reported smoke in the aft cargo compartment shortly after take off from the capital's King Khalid International Airport. The aircraft returned to the airport and landed safely, however an emergency evacuation of the aircraft was not ordered. With a delay in evacuating the passengers, fire consumed the aircraft on the ground, killing all 287 passengers and 14 crew.
On 12 November
1996 Saudia Flight 763 , a Boeing 747 en route from
Delhi to
Dhahran , collided with an
Air Kazakhstan Ilyushin Il-76 at 15,000 feet several miles from Delhi. All 312 passengers on board the 747 and 37 passengers on the Il-76 died in the accident, making it the worst mid-air collision in history. An investigation by the
Indian authorities later blamed the Air Kazakhstan crew's poor understanding of
English and failure to heed
Air Traffic Control warnings.
In August 2001, a Saudi flight lost direction crashed in Kuala Lumpur International. The image is shown on this page.
See
Saudi Arabian Airlines Destinations for a comprehensive list of cities served.
The Saudi Arabian Airlines fleet consists of the following aircraft (at June 2005):
A number of military
C-130 s are painted with the Saudi colors and are flown by Royal Saudi Air Force crews to support Saudi official activities in the region and Europe.
- In the middle 1990s , a DC-3 that used to fly for Saudi Arabian was re-decorated in the airline's early livery and flown back to Saudi Arabia.
- Since 1998, Saudi Arabian Airlines is the official sponsor of the Malwan Art exhibition, in Saidon , Lebanon .
- The DC-3 that was delivered to Saudi Arabia's king in the 1940s is still kept, but not flown, by the airline. It sits on the runway by Saudi Arabian's terminal at Jeddah International Airport.
- From 1978 to 1983 Saudia was the title sponsor of the Williams Formula One team, with the airline's colours appearing on the championship winning cars of Alan Jones ( 1980 ) and Keke Rosberg ( 1982 ).
