Saudi Arabia announced on Sunday the creation of a second national airline, with the idea of making Riyadh a clearinghouse to compete with its rivals in the Gulf.
Riyadh AirBased in the capital and financed with the kingdom’s sovereign wealth funds, it aspires to “launch flights to more than 100 destinations around the world by 2030,” said the official SPA news agency, AFP Agency reported.
The company will be led by Tony Douglas, former director of Etihad Airways, the Emirati company from Abu Dhabi, he said.
The oil monarchy has set itself ambitious targets under Saudi Crown Prince Mohamed Bin Salman’s reform program, with the intention of tripling its air traffic to 330 million passengers by the end of this decade.
In November, the authorities announced the construction of a new airport in the capital, to accommodate 120 million passengers by 2030 and 185 million by 2050.
Riyadh Air will use “a fleet of cutting-edge aircraft,” the SPA agency said, without specifying the number or type of aircraft.
The Wall Street Journal reported on Saturday that the sovereign wealth fund was “close to an agreement” with the manufacturer Boeing for an order “valued at $35 billion.”
The kingdom’s busiest international airport is currently in Jeddahon the shores of the Red Sea, where the national company Saudia is headquartered.
For years, the authorities have tried to position Riyadh as a rival to the regional business center Dubai in the United Arab Emirates, whose airline is the largest in the Middle East.
Prepared with information from AFP.
Source: Gestion
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