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Saudia at higher altitude with 14 percent boost in passengers

By DIANA AL-JASSEM JEDDAH: Saudi Arabian Airlines has set a record in the number of domestic and international flights in the first half of 2011 compared to the same period last year.

According to Director General of the airline Khaled Al-Mulhem, Saudia transported 9,915,578 passengers on 73,544 flights compared to 8,712,668 passengers on 68,753 flights during the same period of 2010.

The number of passengers increased by 14 percent, while the number of flights increased by 7 percent.

He said that domestic flights accounted for 65 percent of the total number of flights in the first half of 2011.

He added: "We focused on providing the best service for travelers inside the Kingdom, especially when we noticed a spike in reservations. In order to facilitate the movement of passengers, we added additional capacity of 2 million seats and increased local flights.

"To avoid overcrowding between Jeddah and Riyadh, we scheduled a flight every hour on this sector -- with a total of 18 flights daily in each direction. Traffic movement between Jeddah and Riyadh accounts for 25 percent of all Saudia flights during the summer of 2011," said Al-Mulhem. Trips between Dammam and Riyadh also increased, and the airline scheduled one flight every two and a half hours. Flights between the three major cities accounts for 40 percent of the total number of domestic flights.

According to Al-Mulhem, international trips also increased by 11 percent compared to the same period last year. Saudi Airlines transported 3,466,045 passengers on 20,993 international flights during the first half of 2011 -- 2,436 more flights than last year. Asian destinations were among the highest international flights registered, followed by African and Gulf destinations.

Luai Kanetah, member of the board and representative of Taif Chamber for Commerce and Industry, confirmed that the number of domestic flights increased during summer 2011 due to many factors.

"This year saw a real challenge in the Saudi tourism sector. It is a golden opportunity to attract the biggest number of tourists and give them top services. Many Saudis canceled their vacations abroad and decided to visit local destinations. Hotels and furnished apartments are enjoying a rush season -- 80 percent of them are fully reserved till the beginning of the holy month of Ramadan," he said.

He added: "The short duration of this vacation due to Ramadan in addition to the political changes in many Arab countries have led to an increase in local tourism."

Kanetah denied that Saudi tourists chose Europe in place of chaos-hit Egypt, Syria, Jordan, Lebanon and Tunisia. Saudi tourists who spend the summer vacation in Europe every year will not change their habits, but those who used to spend the summer vacation in Arab countries canceled their vacation because of the chaos and the short vacation period.

© Arab News 2011