Tag Archives: Saudi Arabia

Saudia-Saudi Arabian Airlines to be the launch operator of the new up to 400-seat Airbus A330-300 Regional

Saudia-Saudi Arabian Airlines (Jeddah), the national carrier of Saudi Arabia will become the first airline in the world to operate the new Airbus A330-300 Regional.

The new aircraft will join Saudi Arabian Airlines’ existing Airbus fleet of twelve A330-300s and 50 A320 Family.

Passenger demand in Saudi Arabia is experiencing high growth both on domestic and regional routes. The new A330-300 Regional variant, specially designed for regional and domestic operations, is Airbus’ solution for markets with large populations and fast growing, concentrated air traffic flows. The A330-300 Regional is set to boost capacity on several of Saudi Arabian Airlines most in-demand routes, enabling the airline to better serve the Saudi Arabian and regional travelling public.

The A330-300 Regional is optimized to seat up to 400 passengers in Airbus’ best in class 18 inch wide economy seat comfort on missions up to 3,000 nm and offers significant cost savings through a reduced operational weight of around 200 tons. The reduction in fuel burn per seat and maintenance costs will result in an overall cost reduction by up to 26% compared with the today’s long-range A330-300. In addition, the A330 Regional benefits from the latest A350 XWB and A380 technologies.

Saudi Arabian Airlines has signed an operating lease agreement with IAFC for the 20 Airbus A330-300 Regional and 30 A320ceo aircraft, which Saudia is planning to also add with this order.

Top Image: Airbus. The Airbus A330-300 Regional.

Saudia-Saudi Arabian Airlines aircraft slide show:

Bottom Copyright Photo: Tony Storck/AirlinersGallery.com. Saudia is also ordering 30 of the current version of the Airbus A320. Airbus A320-214 HZ-ASF (msn 4955) in the SkyTeam livery taxies at Frankfurt.

Gulf Air adds two more cities in Saudi Arabia

Gulf Air (Bahrain) has announced further growth of its network in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia with services to two new destinations – Gassim and Taif, taking the total number of Saudi Arabian cities serviced by the airline to six. Services to Gassim and Taif will begin on January 10 with four flights per week to each city.

Gulf Air aircraft slide show:

http://airlinersgallery.smugmug.com/Airlines-Asia-2/Airlines-Asia2-FP/Gulf-Air

Flydubai to add three new routes in 2015

Flydubai (Dubai) has announced the addition of three new routes to its growing network. Flights to Hargeisa (Somaliland), Chennai (India), and Nejran (Saudi Arabia) will commence in the first quarter of 2015, further expanding the carrier’s footprint to 89 destinations in 46 countries.

From March 5, 2015, Flydubai will become the first carrier to operate to Hargeisa, Somaliland from Dubai with four weekly flights. Flydubai has expanded its network in Africa in 2014 to 13 points served by 60 weekly flights.

Nejran will be added on January 10, 2015 with four weekly flights followed by Chennai on March 31, 2015 with three flights a week.

Flydubai aircraft slide show:

http://airlinersgallery.smugmug.com/Airlines-Asia-2/Airlines-Asia2-FP/Flydubai

Al Maha Airways’ first Airbus A320 is painted at Toulouse

Al Maha Airways (subsidiary of Qatar Airways) (Riyadh) will soon take delivery of its first Airbus A320. The first A320 has been painted at Toulouse pending delivery. The new domestic carrier of Saudi Arabia will launch operations “soon” according to its website. Previously the new subsidiary was expecting to enter the Saudi market in November.

Al Maha means “Oryx” in Arabic, the symbol of Qatar Airways.

Copyright Photo: Eurospot/AirlinersGallery.com. Airbus A320-214 F-WWBV (msn 6347) departs from Toulouse today (October 29) on a test flight. Green is the national color of the Kingdom. The first Airbus A320 will become HZ-ALA on delivery.

Qatar Airways’ Al Maha to start operations in the 3Q with Airbus A320s in Saudi Arabia

Al Maha, the new subsidiary of Qatar Airways (Doha), will start scheduled passenger operations in neighboring Saudi Arabia no later than the third quarter of this year with Airbus A320s according to this report by Bloomberg. Al Maha will use the same logo of Qatar Airways but in green to match the colors of Saudi Arabia. Al Maha will operate with 10 Airbus A320s in the first year. The fleet is expected to grow to around 50 aircraft.

Read the full report: CLICK HERE

The airline is named after the al-Maha deer known for its beautiful eyes. Qatar Airways logo (above) is based on the Oryx, a genus consisting of four large antelope species. Three of them are native to the arid parts of Africa, and the fourth to the Arabian Peninsula according to Wikipedia.

Nasair rebrands as Flynas with a new color scheme

Nasair (subsidiary of National Air Services) (Riyadh, Saudi Arabia) has repainted this Airbus A320-200 with Sharklets in a new livery in Singapore. The new look rebrands the carrier as “Flynas” which trades on its website flynas.com URL address. The change was announced on November 13.

Copyright Photo: Kok Chwee K.C. Sim/AirlinersGallery.com. Airbus A320-214 VP-CXJ (msn 5716) appears in Singapore after emerging from the paint shop.

Flynas (Nasair):

Route Map:

Video (in Arabic):

Turkish Airlines adds Yanbu, its fifth destination in Saudi Arabia

Turkish Airlines (Istanbul) launched its first flight to Yanbu on June 11 as its fifth destination in Saudi Arabia, joining Riyadh, Jeddah, Medina, and Dammam.

Flights will be operated three days a week, on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays. Yanbu flights will be operated with its fleet of Airbus A320 and Boeing 737 aircraft.

Turkish:

Istanbul- Yanbu	Departure/Arrival
Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday	04:35- 07:30 (TK 114)
Yanbu- Istanbul	Departure/Arrival
Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday	08:30- 11:40 (TK 115)