Saudi Arabian Airlines (Saudia) and flyadeal will together add 25 new international destinations in 2023 on Saudia Group Network, the company revealed.
All new routes are set to begin throughout 2023.
The new destinations include Beijing, China; Birmingham, United Kingdom; Dar es Salaam, Tanzania; Djibouti; Chittagong, Bangladesh; Johannesburg, South Africa; Kano, Nigeria; Baghdad, Iraq; London Gatwick, United Kingdom; Nice, France; Lisbon, Portugal; Malaga, Spain; Mykonos, Greece; Sharm el Sheikh, Egypt; Tbilisi, Georgia; Baku, Azerbaijan; Trabzon, Turkey; Izmir, Turkey; Antalya, Turkey; Bodrum, Turkey; Sarajevo, Bosnia; Heraklion, Greece; Rhodes, Greece; Larnaca, Cyprus and Tivat, Montenegro.
The airline will publish more schedule details on announced destinations soon, it said.
Saudia Group Director General, Eng Ibrahim Al-Omar said on expansion: “Saudia Group has been carrying the kingdom’s ambitions, values and traditions across every corner of its network, as it flies the nation’s flag around the world. These new destinations will offer greater access and choices to our guests. Given the increase of demand in international travel, this is the right time to expand our global network in new, exciting ways.
Saudia has recently launched “Your Ticket Your Visa” in January. The first-of-its-kind service provides guests with even easier access to the kingdom through a digital integration system that links transit visas with flight tickets. The new service is aimed to encourage passengers to perform Umrah, visit key destinations and attend events during their transit in the kingdom.
The new service, which covers all international airports in the kingdom, will allow guests to stay in the kingdom for up to 96 hours, during which they can travel around the kingdom and perform Umrah. The digital integration with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs facilitates the issuing of the transit visa and links it to Saudia flight ticket within three minutes.
Saudia started in 1945 with a single twin-engine DC-3 (Dakota) given to King Abdul Aziz as a gift by US President Franklin D Roosevelt. Today Saudia has 142 aircraft, including the latest and most advanced wide-bodied jets presently available: B787-9, B777-300ER, Airbus A320-200, Airbus A321, and Airbus A330-300. Over the past year, Saudia’s initiatives have earned it recognition as a 5-Star Global Airline and a Diamond rating in the APEX Health Safety category.
flyadeal’s first flight took off from Jeddah to Riyadh in 2017. It was the first airline in the world to launch purely through digital channels, selling 10,000 seats within the first 24 hours of going on sale.
The low-cost carrier’s network started with a route from Jeddah to Riyadh, and today its network reaches 27 domestic, international, and seasonal stations, said the group.
