Saudia boosts its new fleet

Saudi Arabian Airlines has received a new Boeing 777 ER300 aircraft as part of its new 20 aircraft fleet from the aircraft manufacturer.
Saudia is about to expand its fleet with dozens of new aircraft from Boeing and Airbus in order to increase its domestic and international flights.
Abdul Aziz Al-Hazmi, deputy director general, said this is the fifth Boeing 777 received and it will be added to the 57 other new aircraft.
He said choosing the aircraft models is done according to a strategic plan to update the fleet in a way that meets increasing operational requirements in both domestic and international sectors.
The new aircraft received by the company has a capacity of 314 seats of which 30 are for business class.
Saudia will receive eight more Boeing 787-9 Dreamliners.
Saudia launched recently its three-month-long summer plan offering more flights to major domestic and international destinations including New York, Washington, London, Paris, Kuala Lumpur and Geneva to meet the rush of the peak holiday season.
The summer season, which Saudia’s Director General Khaled Al-Molhem described as a big challenge to the airline, began on June 6 with the airline operating 504 flights, including 328 in the domestic sector.
As part of preparations for the season, Saudia has increased the number of employees at its call center to enable passengers to make quick reservations and purchase tickets.
Self-service facilities through Saudia’s website and self-service machines at airports and malls are also offered.
Saudia will operate 12 flights weekly from Riyadh and Jeddah to New York and Washington this summer, offering 3,744 seats a week.
There will be eight flights weekly to Paris from Riyadh and Jeddah offering 2,384 seats, six flights to Milan, six flights to Frankfurt and 11 flights to Geneva.
It will operate 14 flights weekly from Riyadh, Jeddah and Madinah to Istanbul offering 3,010 seats.
London being one of the major tourist destinations of Saudis, the airline will operate 13 flights from Riyadh and Jeddah to the British capital, offering a total of 4,056 seats.
It plans to operate 12 flights weekly to the Malaysian capital of Kuala Lumpur offering 4,956 seats, 69 flights to Dubai with 13,370 seats, eight flights to Addis Ababa and four flights to Tunis.