The Saudi's plan to do a start up on a State owned international airline to compete with Qatar and Emirates. With Riyadh being geographically close to Qatar and Dubai that's going to make competition tough for all of them.


Exclusive-New Saudi airline plan takes aim at Emirates, Qatar Airways

Saudi Arabia plans to target international transit passenger traffic with its new national airline, going head-to-head with Gulf giants Emirates and Qatar Airways and opening up a new front in simmering regional competition.

Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, who is pushing economic diversification to wean Saudi Arabia off oil revenues and create jobs, announced a transportation and logistics drive on Tuesday aimed at making the kingdom the fifth-biggest air transit hub.

Two people familiar with the matter said the new airline would boost international routes and echo existing Gulf carriers by carrying people from one country to another via connections in the kingdom, known in the industry as sixth-freedom traffic.

The transport ministry, which has not released details of the plans, did not respond to a Reuters request for comment.


https://finance.yahoo.com/news...takes-101754287.html

they should buy saa and move everything out of RSA, but keep the interesting routes

I have my doubts about how popular their airline would become. Saudi Arabia is much more dogmatic and intolerant of the views and customs of ‘others’ than either the UAE or Qatar. I doubt they’d change to accommodate the public at large.

I worked in Riyadh back in 1983, and while I imagine they’ve probably moderated a little bit, they have a long way to go before most people would want to fly them or visit the kingdom on anything other than business. Hell, we couldn’t even fly directly into Riyadh as the airport didn’t meet international standards. We had to fly into Dhahran on Pan-Am, then transfer to Saudia Airways to get to Riyadh.

I’ll stick to Emirates or Qatar. Dubai and Doha are both much better places for most tourists.

I heard about this a few days ago, and was talking to a friend who works for a major European airline.

He laughed and said “Well, first of all they do not serve drinks. Second, the people I know of in Saudi could not organize a piss up in a brewery”

quote:

Originally posted by Saeed:
I heard about this a few days ago, and was talking to a friend who works for a major European airline.

He laughed and said “Well, first of all they do not serve drinks. Second, the people I know of in Saudi could not organize a piss up in a brewery”

quote:

Originally posted by Saeed:
I heard about this a few days ago, and was talking to a friend who works for a major European airline.

He laughed and said “Well, first of all they do not serve drinks. Second, the people I know of in Saudi could not organize a piss up in a brewery”

It’s funny you say this, because I have 2 memories from my flight in and out of KSA I’ll never forget. One is that, as we began our descent into Dhahran, a line of fashionably dressed women in designer jeans, blouses unbuttoned to show cleavage and stiletto heels, formed near the restrooms. Each woman had her carry-on. They went in dressed in western garb, but came out dressed in black burkas, with only their hands and eyes visible.

On our departure out of Dhahran, headed back to JFK, the drink carts came out while we were still climbing and quickly ran out of alcohol; while similar lines of women formed but this time they went from Burkas back into more fashionable and revealing clothing. Some of the women were very attractive!

Actually, I wish other airlines would give both Emirates and Qatar some competition!

Not very likely from any Western run airline.

Competition is good for us.

quote:

Originally posted by Saeed:
Actually, I wish other airlines would give both Emirates and Qatar some competition!

Not very likely from any Western run airline.

Competition is good for us.

Why, Emirates is about to kill Etihad Airlines. Do you really think the Kingdom would pour that kind of capital into a new airport and/or terminal and airline? Folks are not knocking down the doors now to fly Saudia for a transfer flight (at least Americans).

They made an announcement that they would do it.

I wish Emirates would take over that daily flight from Atlanta to JLB that Delta use to fly. That was convenient. Flight arrived to JLB around 7 pm. They would service the jet overnight and fly back to ATL around 12 the next day. A flight was coming and going everyday and could usually get a last minute seat if you had to get home in a hurry.

Why they're at it how about taking over the flight that SAA used to offer from JFK. It left around 11AM and arrived in Joberg early enough so you could get a connecting flight to other countries on the same day. This enabled you to check your guns/bags through to your final destination without an overnight in Joberg and avoid dealing with SAPs in RSA. This worked on the return flights as well.

Gentlemen, very few airlines would have a long distance flight that does not originate in their home country.