UAE: Emirates To Fly Five Times A Week To Riyadh

Emirates has introduced the first scheduled Airbus A380 service to Saudi Arabia’s capital city, which will be effective 21 April 2019.

Riyadh will be the 51st destination to join the Emirates A380 network.

Flight EK 817/818, currently operated by a Boeing 777-300ER, will now be operated five times a week by Emirates A380.

Speaking about the introduction of the A380 to Riyadh, Adil Al Ghaith, senior vice president commercial operations Gulf, Middle East & Iran, said: The introduction of the A380 to Riyadh also supports Saudi Vision 2030 by helping to grow the Kingdom’s aviation sector through stimulating robust traffic growth, increasing connectivity and deepening its global footprint.

The Emirates A380 aircraft that will serve the Dubai-Riyadh route will be set in a three-class configuration, with 429 seats in economy on the main deck, 76 fully flatbed seats in business class and 14 first class private suites on the upper deck.

According to a statement from the airline, Emirates has been facilitating tourism and trade in the Kingdom for more than 30 years, developing its services to Riyadh, Jeddah, Medina and Dammam.

Today the airline serves these four gateways in the Kingdom with 84 weekly flights to Dubai and connecting travellers to key business and tourism destinations in Europe, Asia, Africa and the Americas.

The airline has previously deployed two one-off A380 missions to Riyadh in celebration of the Kingdom’s National Days, and displayed its A380 aircraft at the recent Saudi International Airshow 2019.


Tourism Observer

SAUDI ARABIA: Flynas Commences Six New Routes From Saudi Arabia

Passengers Travelling out of Saudi Arabia over the summer period will have a host of new destinations to select from as low-cost airline Flynas is introducing new routes from across the country.

From June 13, the national airline will commence flights to six cities across Europe and Eurasia from four airports in the kingdom. While services will not start until June, booking is open now for any passengers wanting to plan ahead.

From Riyadh, two new direct flights to Georgia mean passengers can easily explore the Caucasus country.

The Black Sea resort and port city of Batumi is reachable in just three-and-a-half hours, while the capital of Tbilisi is only three hours and 45 minutes away.

Three new direct flights per week from Riyadh will be added servicing the Austrian city of Vienna, known for its beauty and architecture and reachable in less than six hours.

Azerbaijan’s Baku, Turkey’s Trabzon and Bosnia and Herzegovina’s Sarajevo will also be reachable direct from Riyadh King Khalid International Airport.

In Jeddah, new summer destinations from Flynas include Vienna, Baku and Sarajevo and from Dammam, travellers will be able to fly direct to Tbilisi and Baku.

From the smaller Prince Nayer bin Abdulaziz International Airport, formerly Qassim international Airport, new direct routes to Trabzon and Baku will commence.


Tourism Observer

Nile Air And Pegasus Sign Codeshare Deal, Pegasus Launches Flights To Muscat And Dammam Via Istanbul

Turkey’s leading low-cost airline Pegasus has signed a codeshare agreement with Nile Air, Egypt’s largest private airline.

Through the codeshare partnership, Pegasus guests will be able to purchase flights from Pegasus channels for the Nile Air flights between Istanbul Sabiha Gökçen Airport and Cairo as of 15 June 2018.

Pegasus guests will be able to travel with Nile Air four days a week, on Mondays, Wednesdays, Fridays and Sundays, with the flights operated fromSabiha Gökçen to Cairo at16:05* and from Cairo to Sabiha Gökçen at 11:50.

With the addition of Nile Air, Pegasus now operates six codeshare partnerships, with agreements also in place with:

- KLM Royal Dutch Airlines

- Flynas

- Alitalia

- Qatar Airways

- Delta Air Lines.

The Turkish carrier will launch three times weekly flights to the Omani capital on July 3.

This will increase to four times weekly from July 15.

Stansted-Muscat services, via Istanbul, will operate on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays, returning Wednesdays, Fridays and Sundays.

Prices start from £115.99.

Meanwhile, Pegasus has rolled out daily flights to Saudi Arabia’s third largest city Dammam, via Istanbul, with fares starting from £159.99.

The additions takes Pegasus’s network to 110 destinations in 43 countries.


Tourism Observer

SAUDI ARABIA: Nesma Airlines Starts Flights To Northern Saudia

Saudi-Egyptian carrier Nesma Airlines has begun services from Hail, in the north of Saudi Arabia, as domestic competition in the country intensifies.

The desert kingdom’s regulator, the General Authority of Civil Aviation (GACA), has overseen the issue of licenses to several new airlines, including Nesma, in the past year. For years, traffic in the country has been largely monopolized by national carrier Saudia, with around 10% going to hybrid carrier flynas.

Foreign carriers have also noticeably increased services to Saudi Arabia in an attempt to win a part of the rapidly growing air travel market in the most populous of the Gulf states.

Nesma intends to use Hail as a hub to a network of eight smaller northern Saudi cities: Turaif, Qaisumah, Arar, Rafha, Aljouf, Tabuk, Qaseem and Madinah under the local equivalent of essential air service (EAS) contracts. Nesma also plans to start services to the Saudi capital, Riyadh, the country’s main commercial center Jeddah and the oil-rich Eastern province city of Dammam.

Details of services to the last three cities will be announced in November.

Commenting on the start of Nesma’s services, GACA DG-northern airports Hamad Alkhemaish said the flights marked the start of a national project for hub airports. ATW understands flynas has been given authority to launch a similar series of EAS routes to smaller cities, based on a hub at Abha, in the far southwest of the country.

Nesma Airlines CEO Faisal Alturki said the airline would build up a fleet of six ATR 72-600 turboprops over the next three years. It also intended to acquire single examples of the Airbus A320 and A319 for services from Hail to Riyadh, Jeddah and Dammam. Two larger A321s are also planned to operate services between the latter three cities.

Partly because of the start of Nesma services, GACA is looking to expand Hail airport. A study is underway that will look at the existing terminal and expansion of the apron area to allow for more aircraft to be parked.

UAE: Etihad Adds More Flights To Manila

The new services will increase capacity between the two cities by almost 2,500 seats per week enabling Etihad to better serve the market in the UAE and the Philippines for point-to-point travel as well as supporting behind and beyond demand via its Abu Dhabi International Airport hub.

United Arab Emirates (UAE) national carrier, Etihad Airways is to boost flights to next year’s Routes Asia host city, Manila, the capital of the Philippines. The hub carrier will introduce an additional three weekly flights between Abu Dhabi International Airport and Ninoy Aquino International Airport from May 1, 2016, offering a total of 17 return flights per week in this market.

The new services will increase capacity between the two cities by almost 2,500 seats per week enabling Etihad to better serve the market in the UAE and the Philippines for point-to-point travel as well as supporting behind and beyond demand via its Abu Dhabi International Airport hub.

“The Abu Dhabi-Manila route is one of our strongest in terms of demand and has been capacity-constrained over the past few years,” explained James Hogan, President and Chief Executive Officer, Etihad Airways.

The enhanced flight schedule will provide enhanced connectivity via Abu Dhabi with 1,085 weekly connections to 58 destinations on the airline’s global network. This includes connections to Bahrain, Dammam, Doha, Jeddah, Kuwait and Riyadh which are among the top 20 destinations for travellers to and from the Philippines.

The extra capacity would also enable Etihad Airways and its partner airlines to grow traffic beyond the local Middle East demand and grow the business and leisure travel market from the UAE and European countries such as the UK, France, and Italy.

“There’s huge potential to grow the visitor market, particularly from the Middle East and Europe, and we’re keen to work with our European partner airlines, the Philippines Government and its tourism board to showcase the beauty of the country and the friendliness of its people,” said Hogan.

“For holidaymakers, the Philippines – with its secluded islands, pristine beaches, undersea diving spots and luxury resorts – is one of the world’s best-kept secrets. The three additional weekly services between Abu Dhabi and Manila will help us realise this ambition,” he added.

Like Etihad’s two existing daily rotations between Abu Dhabi and Manila, the three additional flights will be operated by two-class Boeing 777-300ERs with 28 seats in Business and 384 in Economy. The additional frequency will also boost commerce and trade between the UAE and the Philippines. With a belly hold capacity of 18 tonnes, the B777-300ER offers the airline and its freight customers a significant opportunity to grow the export/import business, particularly in the area of electronics and fresh food.

Etihad commenced services to the Philippines in February 2006 and alongside its own flights has a codeshare arrangement with Philippine Airlines on its own five times weekly link between Manila and Abu Dhabi. It has carried an estimated 3.3 million passengers on the route during the almost ten years in the market with average load factors of around 91.5 per cent from Abu Dhabi and 95.7 per cent from Abu Dhabi, according to Sabre data.

Analysis of MIDT statistics for the first six months of this year shows that less than one fifth of passengers flying with Etihad between Abu Dhabi and Manila are flying on a point-to-point basis. An estimated 17.7 per cent of the demand during that period was local traffic, with connections via Abu Dhabi accounting for 77.8 per cent of the traffic.

After the Abu Dhabi and Manila local traffic, Doha, Qatar was the biggest single origin and destination market for passengers flying with Etihad on the route during the first six months of 2015, followed by the three Saudi Arabian cities of Dammam, Riyadh and Jeddah. London Heathrow, UK; Milan Malpensa, Italy and Dublin, Republic of Ireland are the largest markets outside of the Middle East.

SAUDI ARABIA: SaudiGulf Airlines

SaudiGulf Airlines is a proposed start-up carrier planning to commence domestic services in Saudi Arabia on 01-Nov-2015 with a fleet of four Airbus A320 aircraft.

The airline was planning to launch in 1Q2015 but has encountered regulatory delays with Saudi Arabia’s General Authority of Civil Aviation.

The airline reportedly intends to initially operate three to four times daily between Dammam, Riyadh and Jeddah before expanding to Abha, Madinah, Qassim and Tabuk.

The carrier also plans to operate internationally to destinations in the Middle East and Africa.

The airline expects to take delivery of its first Bombardier CS300 aircraft in late 2015 or early 2016. SaudiGulf is owned by the Al Qahtani Group and will become the country's third domestic carrier, after Saudia and flynas.

QATAR: Qatar Airways Launches Eighth Route To Saudi Arabia

Qatar Airways has launched a new service to its eighth destination in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia with four flights a week to Abha.

Qatar Airways flight QR1212, which landed at Abha international Airport yesterday was welcomed with a traditional water salute. At airport ceremony, Engineer Tariq Al-AbdulJabbar, Assistant Vice President of Domestic Airports welcomed the first Qatar Airways flight to Abha.

"We have been steadily growing our presence and services to Saudi Arabia for the past 18 years," said Qatar Airways Group Chief Executive, Akbar Al Baker.

"As our eighth destination in the Kingdom, Abha will bring additional flexibility for passengers connecting from Asia, the Middle East, Europe and the Americas. From Abha, our passengers will now be able to travel seamlessly through our state-of-the-art Doha hub Hamad International Airport to popular cities such as London, Paris, Bangkok, Singapore, New York and Washington. At the same time this will provide passengers travelling to Saudi Arabia from international markets the convenience of another gateway."

Qatar Airways began operations to the Kingdom in 1997 with non-stop flights to Jeddah. The airline has added Riyadh, Dammam, Madinah, Gassim, Ta’if and Al Hofuf to its portfolio of destinations, all non-stop to and from Doha, with connections to most of Qatar Airways’ destinations worldwide.

Qatar Airways currently operates 84 weekly flights to seven key cities in Saudi Arabia. The addition of Abha will increase the number of Qatar Airways’ weekly flights to Saudi Arabia to 88 non-stop flights.

The city of Abha is the capital of Asir, a south-western province in the Kingdom, rapidly gaining in popularity in the region as a tourist destination due to its attractions, its mild seasonal weather and breath-taking mountains.

UAE: Emirates To Fly A380 Three Times A Week To Jeddah

Emirates is adding four weekly flights a week to Jeddah in Saudi Arabia from December 14, allowing the airline to fly the Airbus A380 three times a day to the city.

The new flights will operate on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Saturday, and increase the number of weekly flights to Jeddah operated by Emirates to 21.

The airline flies to four points in Saudi Arabia — Jeddah, Riyadh, Dammam and Al Madinah Al Munawarah. The additional Jeddah services will increase weekly flights to the country to 67, up from 63 today.

QATAR: Qatar Airways Launches Doha To Abha In Saudi Arabia

Amongst other VIPs, the ceremony at Abha to mark the start of the four times weekly operation by the oneworld member from Doha was hosted by Qatar Airways SVP Aero Political & Regulatory Affairs, Ali Al-Rais, along with Engineer Tariq Al-AbdulJabbar, Assistant VP of Domestic Airports. The celebrations were followed by an exchange of gifts in the presence of local media.

Qatar Airways has launched a new service to its eighth destination in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) with four flights a week to Abha (AHB). The city of Abha is the capital of Asir, a south-western province in KSA. The inaugural flight from Doha (DOH) landed on 2 September.

“We have been steadily growing our presence and services to Saudi Arabia for the past 18 years,” said Qatar Airways Group CEO Akbar Al Baker. “As our eighth destination in the Kingdom, Abha will bring additional flexibility for passengers connecting from Asia, the Middle East, Europe and the Americas.

From Abha, our passengers will now be able to travel seamlessly through our state-of-the-art Doha hub Hamad International Airport to popular cities such as London, Paris, Bangkok, Singapore, New York and Washington. At the same time this will provide passengers travelling to Saudi Arabia from international markets the convenience of another gateway.”

Qatar Airways began operations to the KSA in 1997 with non-stop flights to Jeddah. The airline has since added Riyadh, Dammam, Madinah, Gassim, Taif and Hofuf to its portfolio of destinations and currently operates 84 weekly flights to Saudi Arabia. The new route will be operated by the airline’s 144-seat A320s with no direct competition.

JORDAN: Air Arabia Jordan Introduces Amman To Dammam Flights

Doing the honours in Amman cutting the new route cake were: Capt. Nadhem AlHamad, Air Arabia Jordan CEO; Nabil Hajjarah, Dnata Catering, Customer Services Manager; Svitlana Scrypai, Air Arabia Jordan, Cabin Crew; Riad Al Khashman, Air Arabia Jordan, Chairman; Stella Saleh, Air Arabia Jordan, Cabin Crew; and Capt. Mohammed Al Omari, Air Arabia Jordan, Accountable Manager.

Air Arabia Jordan commenced twice-weekly services between its Amman (AMM) base and Dammam (DMM) on 2 September. The 1,460-kilometre sector becomes the LCC’s fifth route from its latest hub, and the second in Saudi Arabia, adding to its existing flights to Jeddah.

The airline also flies to Erbil, Kuwait City and Sharm El Sheikh. The A320-operated service will face direct competition from Royal Jordanian, which offers a 10 times weekly service on the city pair.

INDIA: AirAsia, Gulf Air, TruJet and Vistara Are Newest Carriers At Rajiv Gandhi Airport

According to AAI figures, in January of this year Hyderabad Rajiv Gandhi International Airport achieved a rolling 12-month passenger throughput of more than 10 million passengers for the first time in its history. This was followed in May by handling over one million passengers in a month for the first time. The airport ranks as India’s sixth busiest and serves the capital of the southern Indian state of Telangana.

The current facility was opened on a former greenfield site in March 2008, when passenger numbers were around the seven million mark. Initially passenger numbers fell as a result of the global economic crisis, but since then demand has rebounded well, and in the year ending 31 March 2015 the airline processed 10.4 million passengers, a 20% increase on the previous 12-month period. Latest AAI figures for June 2015 show that the airport has handled close to 11 million passengers in the last 12 months.

IndiGo is #1 carrier

The leading airline at the airport is IndiGo, with an estimated 40% of scheduled seat capacity spread across a network of 15 domestic destinations and one international (Dubai). This makes the carrier more than twice as big as its nearest rival, Air India. SpiceJet has fallen from second to third at the airport as a result of its network restructuring, while Jet Airways is fourth.

The leading foreign carrier at the airport is Emirates, followed by Etihad Airways, Saudi Arabian Airlines, Thai Airways and British Airways (shown in bright green). Four airlines have begun service from the airport in the last 12 months; AirAsia, Gulf Air (technically a resumption of services), TruJet and Vistara.


Delhi and Mumbai jostle for leading route status

Delhi and Mumbai are evenly matched as the airport’s two busiest routes, well ahead of third-ranked Bengaluru. There are only two international routes in the airport’s top 12, but one of them, Dubai, ranks as the airport’s fourth busiest route, served by Air India, Emirates, flydubai and IndiGo. Abu Dhabi in eighth place is served by Etihad Airways and Jet Airways. Other destinations served in the Middle East include Bahrain, Dammam, Doha, Jeddah, Kuwait, Muscat and Riyadh. Asian destinations with direct service include Bangkok (with Thai Airways), Hong Kong (with Cathay Pacific Airways), Kuala Lumpur (with AirAsia and Malaysia Airlines) and Singapore (with both SilkAir and Singapore Airlines). The only non-stop service to Europe is to London Heathrow with British Airways. There are currently no direct services to anywhere in China or the US.

TruJet is newest airline

On 12 July, Hyderabad welcomed its newest carrier, TruJet. The new, domestic carrier currently has a fleet of two ATR 72-500s and operates from Hyderabad to Aurangabad, Chennai, Tirupati and Rahajmundry, with services to Bengaluru expected to launch in mid-September.