New Saudi Gulf airline to concentrate on domestic market

The newly launched Saudi Gulf airline would initially focus on domestic routes covering Dammam, Jeddah, Riyadh and secondary Saudi cities before expanding to regional destinations, a company official said.

The Eastern Province-based airline was launched at the Bahrain International Air Show, with its owners also announcing an order for 16 Bombardier CSeries CS300s aircraft worth around $2 billion, with an option to buy a further 10 planes for $1 billion. Deliveries will run from late 2015 into 2016.

The new airline will begin operations in October 2015.

The Al-Qahtani Group backs the airline headed by Samer Majali, former CEO of Royal Jordanian Airlines and Gulf Air.

Majali has been advising the Saudi group on setting up the airline since resigning from Gulf Air in late 2012.

The Al-Qahtani Group, also advised by Gulf Air, was awarded one of two new airline licenses in December 2012 by the General Authority of Civil Aviation (GACA).

The other license went to Qatar Airways.

Independent Saudi airlines, such as Flynas, and the now defunct SAMA, have complained about the problems of operating in the Kingdom due to high fuel and airport costs.

In response to a question on this issue, Majali said GACA was privatizing ground handling, catering and airport operations.

“There is a whole transformation process happening in Saudi Arabia to offer better services to the traveling public,” he said.

Majali said Saudi Arabia was a striking contrast to other Gulf states that have large airlines but small populations. He said the Kingdom has 28 million people, the largest population in the region, but only Saudi Arabian Airlines (Saudia) and Flynas as carriers.

He was confident that Saudi Gulf would complement the activities of Saudia, which he described as a “sister airline.