Shoura wants foreign airlines to get subsidized aviation fuel

A Shoura Council panel urged the General Authority of Civil Aviation (GACA) on Monday to take quick steps for activating newly licensed foreign airlines to operate flights between Saudi cities to meet demand from a growing number of passengers and to satisfy the Kingdom’s development requirements.
A member of the Shoura’s transport committee criticized the higher jet fuel prices charged by the Kingdom’s airports, which is one of the main reasons that is preventing foreign airlines from entering the Kingdom’s domestic market.
“We have to investigate the reason for licensed foreign airlines not operating domestic flights,” one Shoura member said. “There is a shortage of 1.5 million seats in the domestic aviation market and this demands a quick solution,” he added.
Khaled Al-Molhem, director-general of Saudi Arabian Airlines, has emphasized his airline’s plan to allocate more aircraft to the domestic sector. “The number of domestic passengers in the Kingdom will cross 28.5 million by 2020 and Saudia intends to acquire a market share of 22 million,” Al-Molhem said.
Saudia transported more than 25 million passengers in 2013, including 14.7 million in the domestic sector. There were 16.5 million seats on board domestic Saudia flights in 2013. Saudia has received 71 state-of-the-art aircraft from Airbus and Boeing.
FlyDubai and Qatar Airways have been given the green light by GACA to operate flights from Al-Ahsa Airport in the Eastern Province.
Khaled Al-Khaibary, a spokesman for GACA, said FlyDubai would begin operating from the airport on Feb. 6, with two weekly flights on Thursdays and Saturdays.
Akbar Al-Baker, CEO of Qatar Airways, said the carrier has reached an agreement with Saudi authorities on solving the problems that have blocked its entry into the domestic market and its plans to begin operating by the end of the third quarter.