Saudi Arabian Airlines

Saudi Arabian Airlines (Arabic: الخطوط الجوية العربية السعودية‎ Al-Khuṭūṭ al-Jawwiyyah al-ʿArabiyyah al-Saʿūdiyyah ) is the flag carrier airline of Saudi Arabia, based in Jeddah. It operates domestic and international scheduled flights to over 90 destinations in the Middle East, Africa, Asia, Europe and North America. Domestic and international charter flights are operated, mostly during Ramadan and the Hajj season.

The airline's main operational base is at Jeddah-King Abdulaziz International Airport (JED). Other major hubs are Riyadh-King Khalid International Airport (RUH), and Dammam-King Fahd International Airport (DMM). The new Dammam airport was opened for commercial use on 28 November 1999. Dhahran International Airport in use until then, has reverted to being used as a military base.

Saudi Arabian Airlines is a member of the Arab Air Carriers Organization. The airline used to be the largest carrier in the region, but because of the growth of other airports and airlines has become the third largest in 2006, behind Emirates and Etihad Airways.

History

When U.S. President Franklin Delano Roosevelt presented a Douglas DC-3 as a gift to King Abdul Aziz Ibn Saud in 1945, the event marked the Kingdom's gradual development of civil aviation. The nation's flag carrier Saudi Arabian Airlines was founded in September 1946 as a fully owned government agency under the control of the Ministry of Defense, with TWA running the airline under a management contract.

From the beginning, Jeddah-Kandara airport—very near the town centre—served as the flag carrier's main base. Among the airline's early operations was a special flight from Lydda in Palestine (today Lod in Israel, site of Ben-Gurion International Airport), a British Mandate at that time, to carry Hajj pilgrims to Jeddah. The airline used five DC-3 aircraft to launch scheduled operations on the Jeddah-Riyadh-Hofuf-Dhahran route in March 1947, followed by its first international service between Jeddah and Cairo also in that same month. Service to Damascus and Beirut followed in early 1948. The following year saw the first of five Bristol 170s being received. These aircraft offered the airline the flexibility of carrying both passengers and cargo.

The slow but steady growth continued during the 1950s and services were inaugurated to Istanbul, Karachi, Amman, Kuwait City, Asmara, and Port Sudan. The fleet also saw a small growth during the 1950s, with five DC-4s and ten Convair 340s, the first pressurized aircraft for the airline. In 1959, the airline's first maintenance center was inaugurated in Jeddah. Also during this decade, the very important air link between Jeddah and Riyadh saw improvement.

In 1962, the airline took delivery of two Boeing 720s, making history by becoming the second Middle Eastern airline to fly jet aircraft (Cyprus Airways was the first one with de Havilland Comet). On 19 February 1963, the airline became a registered company, with King Faisal of Saudi Arabia signing the papers that declared Saudi Arabian a fully independent company. DC-6s and Boeing 707s were later bought, and the airline joined the AACO, the Arab Air Carriers Organization. Services were started to Sharjah, Tehran, Khartoum, Bombay, Tripoli, Tunis, Rabat, Geneva, Frankfurt, and London.

In the 1970s, a new livery was introduced. The carrier's name was changed to Saudia on 1 April 1972. Boeing 737 and Fokker F-28 equipment was bought, with the 737s replacing the Douglas DC-9. The first all-cargo flights between Saudi Arabia and Europe were started, and Lockheed L-1011s and Fairchild FH-27s were introduced. New services, including the Arabian Express 'no reservation shuttle flights' between Jeddah and Riyadh. The Special Flight Services (SFS) was set up as a special unit of Saudia, and operates special flights for the Royal family and government agencies. Service was also started to Rome, Paris, Muscat, Kano, and Stockholm. The Pan Am / Saudia joint service between Dhahran and New York City started on 3 February 1979.

Some services opened during the 1980s for the airline, such as Saudia Catering. Flights were started to Athens, Bangkok, Dhaka, Mogadishu, Nairobi, New York City, Madrid, Singapore, Manila, Delhi, Islamabad, Seoul, Baghdad, Amsterdam, Colombo, Nice, Lahore, Brussels, Dakar, Kuala Lumpur and Taipei. Horizon Class, a business class service, was established to offer enhanced service to passengers. Cargo hubs were built at Brussels and Taipei. Airbus A300s, Boeing 747s, and Cessna Citations were also added to the fleet, the Citations for the SFS service. To conclude the decade, services were introduced in 1989 to Larnaca and Addis Ababa.

In the 1990s, services were introduced to Orlando, Chennai, Asmara, Washington, D.C., Johannesburg, Alexandria, Milan, Málaga (seasonal), and Sanaa (resumption). Boeing 777s, MD-90s and MD-11s were introduced. New female flight attendant uniforms designed by Adnan Akbar were introduced. A new corporate identity was launched on 16 July 1996, featuring a sand coloured fuselage with contrasting dark blue tailfin, the centre of which featured a stylised representation of the House of Saud crest. The Saudia name was dropped in the identity revamp, with Saudi Arabian Airlines name used.

On 8 October 2000, Prince Sultan Bin Abdul Aziz Al Saud, the Saudi Minister of Defence & Aviation, signed a contract to conduct studies for the privatisation of Saudi Arabian Airlines. In preparation for this, the airline was restructured to allow non-core units—including Saudia catering, ground handling services and maintenance as well as the Prince Sultan Flight Academy in Jeddah—to be transformed into commercial units and profit centres. In April 2005, the Saudi government indicated that the airline may also lose its monopoly on domestic services.^[1]

Profits

passengers and recorded a 14% rise in profits. In April the following year the airline ordered 15 Embraer E-170LR aircraft in a deal worth $400 million.

Privatization

In 2006 Saudi Airlines began the process, dividing itself into Strategic Business Units (SBU); the catering unit was the first to be privatized.^[2] In August 2007, Saudi Arabia's Council of Ministers approved the conversion of strategic units into companies. It is planned that ground services, technical services, air cargo and the Prince Sultan Aviation Academy, as well as the catering unit, will become subsidiaries of a holding company.^[3]

Destinations

Codeshare and Alliance

Saudi Arabian Airlines has codeshare agreements with the following airlines (as of November 2010):

• Air France (Sky Team)
• Ethiopian Airlines (Star Alliance)
• Etihad Airways
• Gulf Air
• Kuwait Airways
• MEA-Middle East Airlines (future Sky Team member)
• SriLankan Airlines
• Yemenia

They will also become full member in SkyTeam from 2012 which will add more code shares to their network:^[4]

Fleet

Saudi Arabian Airlines operates the following aircraft (as of July 2011):^{[5][6][7][8][9][10]}

On its new introduced Boeing 777-300ER (designation — 773) Saudi Arabian is planning to have 7-abreast (2-3-2) business class and 10-abreast (3-4-3) economy class,^[11] using these planes on medium-haul routes.^[11]

Introduction of new aircraft

Saudi Arabian Airlines will receive 35 new Airbus airplanes by the end of this year 2011. The airline has so far received 32 A320-200s, eight A330-300s, and four 800s.^[14]

Other aircraft

Saudi Arabian Airlines Special Flight Services, VIP flights, and Private Aviation operate the following, a number of which sport the airlines livery

• 6 Beechcraft Bonanza (training)
• 2 Dassault Falcon 900 (government use)
• 2 Dassault Falcon 7X (charter)
• 6 Gulfstream IV (government use)
• 6 Hawker 400XP (government use)

Some military C-130s are also painted with the Saudi Arabian Airlines colors and are flown by Royal Saudi Air Force crews to support Saudi official activities in the region and Europe.

In-flight services

The in-flight magazine of Saudi Arabian Airlines is called Ahlan Wasahlan (Arabic: أهلاً وسهلاً‎ "Hello and Welcome"). No alcoholic beverages or pork are served on board in accordance with Islamic dietary laws.

Incidents and accidents

• On 25 September 1959, a Saudi Arabian Airlines Douglas DC-4 HZ-AAF crashed shortly after take-off from Jeddah. The cause of the accident was pilot error followed by a stall. All 67 passengers and 5 crew survived.^[15]

• On 9 February 1968, Douglas C-47 HZ-AAE was damaged beyond economic repair at an unknown location.^[16]

• On 10 November 1970, a Douglas DC-3 on a flight from Amman Civil Airport, Jordan to Riyadh International Airport, Riyadh Saudi Arabia was hijacked and diverted to Damascus Airport, Syria.^[17]

• On 11 July 1972, Douglas C-47B HZ-AAK was damaged beyond economic repair in an accident at Tabuk Airport.^[18]

• On 19 August 1980, Saudia Flight 163 operating Karachi-Riyadh-Jeddah, was completely destroyed by fire at Riyadh airport with the loss of all people on board the L-1011.

• On 23 December 1980, Saudia Flight 162, operating Dhahran to Karachi, experinced a explosive decompression, penetrating the passenger cabin. The hole sucked out two passengers and depressurized the cabin.^[19]

• On 12 November 1996, when Saudi Arabian Airlines Flight 763 (SVA 763), a Boeing 747-168B en route from New Delhi, India, to Dhahran, Saudi Arabia, collided in mid-air with Kazakhstan Airlines Flight 1907 (KZK 1907), an Ilyushin Il-76 en route from Shymkent, Kazakhstan to New Delhi, over the village of Charkhi Dadri, Haryana, India. All 349 people on board both flights were killed, making it the deadliest mid-air collision in history.

• In 23 August 2001, at Kuala Lumpur International Airport, Malaysia,^[20] a Saudi Arabian Airlines Boeing 747–368 aircraft (Registration HZ-AIO) suffered nose damage as it entered a monsoon drainage ditch while it was being taxied by Maintenance staff from the hangar to the gate before a return flight to Saudi Arabia. None of the six crew members on board at the time were injured.

• On 8 September 2005, a Saudi Arabian Boeing 747 travelling from Colombo to Jeddah, carrying mostly Sri Lankan nationals to take up employment in the Kingdom, received a false alarm claiming that a bomb had been planted on board. The aircraft returned to Colombo and, during the evacuation, there was a passenger stampede in the wake of which one Sri Lankan woman died, 62 were injured, and 17 were hospitalized. The aircraft had taken on a load of 420 passengers in Colombo.^[21]

• On 25 May 2008, a leased aircraft operating as Saudi Arabian Airlines Flight SV806 from Prince Mohammad Bin Abdulaziz Airport, Medina made an uneventful landing in Zia International Airport. During the roll the tower controller reported that he saw a fire on the right hand wing. Upon exiting runway 14 the crew received a fire indication for engine number three. The fire extinguisher was activated and all engines were shut down. The Boeing 747-357, which was damaged beyond repair, was successfully evacuated.^[22] Only minor injuries had been incured.^[23] Investigation determined a fuel leak where the fuel enters the front spar for engine number three.^[22]

• On 21 January 2010, a Saudi Arabian Cargo MD-11F was involved in a taxiway excursion at Malta International Airport. As the aircraft was taxiing to Park 9 via taxiway E, the right main landing gear overstepped the taxiway onto the grass where it became stuck in the soft soil. No injuries were reported and the aircraft was pulled out the following morning.^[24]

See also

• Prince Sultan Aviation Academy
• AeroMobile

References

External links

• Saudi Airlines official website
• Ahlan Wasahlan inflight magazine
• Saudi Arabian Airlines : The Jewel of the Middle East, Boeing