RIYADH, 11 March 2005 — Britain’s second largest airline known as ‘bmi airline’ is to start flights to Saudi Arabia following the recent announcement of British Airways to suspend all flights to the Kingdom from March 27. The bmi airline, which has its main operational base at London Heathrow, will operate three flights on a weekly basis in the beginning, local travel industry sources said yesterday.

“The bmi would start the three flights between London and Riyadh tentatively within a few months from now”, said the sources. Arab News tried to call London press office of the bmi, but could not reach any bmi official for more information. The sources said that “this announcement has come as a big relief for passengers, who have been frequently flying on the Saudi-UK sector.

The decision by British Airways to withdraw from the Saudi-UK sector was widely criticized recently. BA, which operates seven flights a week to the Kingdom including four flights to Jeddah and three to Riyadh, said early this year that its decision was prompted by commercial reasons. “The decision to suspend the flights is unrelated to the terror threats”, said Richard Hirsch, country commercial manager for Saudi Arabia.

Asked how passengers will benefit from flying bmi aircraft, the sources said that the bmi, which holds 14 percent of all take off and landing slots at Heathrow, is a major carrier operating more than 2000 flights a week.

Meanwhile, the British Airways has put procedures in place to help customers whose travel plans have been disrupted by the flight suspension. BA, one of the oldest airlines operating to the Saudi cities, has been flying to the Kingdom since 1930. were later resumed.

The sources said that “the decision to suspend BA flights has been an unwelcome move”. They said that the Kingdom is the UK’s largest trading partner in the Middle East and London is also a major investor in Saudi Arabia.

There are 145 Saudi-British joint ventures operating in the Kingdom and more than 25,000 British citizens have been living and working in this country. They said that the airline has acted in a hurry.

But, reports published recently indicate a sharp drop in traffic since Sept. 11 terror attacks especially on Saudi-American sector and Saudi-European sector.