( of
Saudi Arabia , based in
Jeddah . It operates domestic and international scheduled flights to over 70 destinations in the
Middle East , Africa, Asia, Europe and North America. Domestic and international charter flights are operated as required, mostly during
Ramadan and the
Hajj season. The airline's main operational base is at Jeddah-King Abdulaziz International Airport (JED). Other major hubs are Riyadh-King Khalid International Airport (RUH), and Dammam-King Fahd International Airport (DMM). The new Dammam airport was opened for commercial use on
28 November 1999 . Dhahran International Airport in use until then, has reverted back to being used as a military base. Saudi Arabian Airlines is a member of the
Arab Air Carriers Organization .
When US President
Franklin Delano Roosevelt presented a
Douglas DC-3 as a gift to
King Abdul Aziz Ibn Saud in 1945, the event was seen as opening the door to the Saudi Kingdom's civil aviation development. Saudi Arabian Airlines was founded in September 1946 as a fully owned government agency under the control of the Ministry of Defense, with
TWA involved with the running of the airline under a management contract.
From the beginning,
Jeddah -Kandara airport - very near the town centre - served as the flag carrier's main base. Among the new airline's early operations was a special flight from
Lydda in
Palestine , a
British Mandate at that time, to carry Hajj pilgrims to Jeddah. The airline used a fleet of five DC-3 aircraft to launch scheduled operations on the Jeddah-Riyadh-Hofuf-Dhahran route in March 1947, followed by its first international service between Jeddah and Cairo in the same month. Service to
Damascus and
Beirut followed in early 1948.
In 1949, the first of five
Bristol 170 s was received. These aircraft offered the airline the flexibility of carrying both passengers and cargo on selected flights as required.
The slow but steady growth continued during the 1950s and services were inaugurated to
Istanbul ,
Karachi ,
Amman ,
Kuwait City ,
Asmara , and
Port Sudan . The fleet also saw a small growth during the 1950s, with five
DC-4 s and ten
Convair 340s, the first pressurized aircraft for the airline. In 1959, the airline's first maintenance center was inaugurated in Jeddah. Also during this decade, the very important air link between Jeddah and Riyadh saw notable service improvement.
]]
In 1962, the airline took delivery of two
Boeing 720 s, making history by becoming the first
Middle East ern airline to fly jets. On
19 February ,
1963 , the airline became a registered company, with
King Faisal Of Saudi Arabia signing the papers that declared Saudi Arabian a fully independent company.
DC-6 s and
Boeing 707 s were later bought, and the airline joined
AACO , the
Arab Air Carriers Organization . Services were started to
Sharjah ,
Tehran ,
Khartoum ,
Bombay ,
Tripoli ,
Tunis ,
Rabat ,
Geneva ,
Frankfurt , and
London .
In the 1970s, a new livery was introduced, and the carrier's name was changed to Saudia on
1 April 1972 .
Boeing 737 and
Boeing 747 equipment was bought, with the 737s replacing the
Douglas DC-9 . The first all-cargo flights between Saudi Arabia and Europe were started, and
Lockheed L-1011 s and
Fairchild FH-27 s were introduced. New services, including the ''Arabian Express'' 'no reservation shuttle flights' between Jeddah and Riyadh. The ''Special Flight Services'' (SFS) was set up as a special unit of Saudia, and still enjoys its role as operating special flights for the Royal family and government agencies. Service was also started to
Rome ,
Paris ,
Muscat ,
Kano , and
Stockholm . The Pan Am / Saudia joint service between
Dhahran and
New York City started on
3 February 1979 .
Some new non-route-related services opened during the 1980s for the airline, such as ''Saudia Catering''. Flights were started to ,
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
Larnaca and
Addis Ababa .
In the 1990s services were introduced to
Orlando ,
Chennai ,
Tokyo ,
Asmara ,
Washington, D.C. ,
Johannesburg ,
Alexandria ,
Milan ,
Málaga , and
Sanaa .
Boeing 777 s,
McDonnell Douglas MD-90s and
MD-11s 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.
BBC News 28 March, 2006
Saudi Arabian Airlines did achieve operational profits in 2002, which doubled in 2003 but the profits are primarily due to over one billion riyal on deferred income amortised annually in the income statement courtesy of the 70 aircraft gifted to the airline by the Government. 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. They are to be based at Abha in the south and at Hail in the north.
See
Saudi Arabian Airlines Destinations
Saudi Arabian Airlines have code share agreements with the following carriers on various routes.
The Saudi Arabian Airlines operate the following aircraft (at August 2007)
Fleet Detail :
Saudi Arabian Airlines operate the following aircraft for Government and the Royal family.
Other aircraft:
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.
The average age of the fleet is 12.8 years as of February 2007, with some of the current aircraft being more than 30 years old.
1
Saudi Arabian Cargo is the freight division of the airline, they operate to points in Europe, Africa, East Asia and North America.
- According to their website {Link without Title} ,
- 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.
- 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.
F1 Car with the ''saudia'' logo at that time]]
- 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).
- The Tehran route was a seasonal service before 2005 when Saudi Arabian Airlines and Iran Air decided that there where too many passengers coming in and out of Iran and Saudi Arabia . Saudi was asked to install a permanent service to Tehran.
- Saudi Arabian Airlines, along with Iran Air, are the only operators of the Boeing 747-100B
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