Saudi Arabian Airlines
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| الخطوط الجوية العربية السعودية Saudi Arabian Airlines |
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| IATA SV |
ICAO SVA |
Callsign SAUDIA |
| Founded | 1945 | |
| Hubs | Jeddah-King Abdulaziz International Airport Riyadh-King Khalid International Airport Dammam-King Fahd International Airport |
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| Frequent flyer program | Alfursan | |
| Fleet size | 117 (+ 72 Orders) | |
| Destinations | 76 | |
| Parent company | N/A (owned by the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia) | |
| Headquarters |  Jeddah, Saudi Arabia |
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| Key people | HRH Prince Sultan bin Abdul Aziz (CEO), Khalid Abdullah Almolhem (Director General) | |
| Website: http://www.saudiairlines.com/ | ||
Saudi Arabian Airlines (Arabic: الخطوط الجوية العربية السعودية) is the national airline of Saudi Arabia, based in Jeddah. It operates domestic and international scheduled flights to over 70 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 back to being used as a military base. Saudi Arabian Airlines is a member of the Arab Air Carriers Organization. The airline was the largest carrier in the region, however due to the emergence of airports and airline's in the region the airline became the second largest in 2006, behind Emirates Airline.
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[edit] History
When US 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' 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, 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.
In 1949, the first of five Bristol 170s was 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 improved.
In 1962, the airline took delivery of two Boeing 720s, making history by becoming the first Middle Eastern airline to fly jets. 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 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 Boeing 747 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 City, 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, Fokker F-28s, and Cessna Citations were also added to the fleet, the Citations for the SFS service. To finish the decade, services were introduced in 1989 to Larnaca and Addis Ababa.
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In the 1990s, services were introduced to Orlando, Chennai, Asmara, Washington, D.C., Johannesburg, Alexandria, Milan, Málaga (seasonal), and Sanaa (resumption). Boeing 777s, McDonnell Douglas MD-90s and McDonnell-Douglas MD-11s were introduced. Smoking was banned on certain flights on all domestic flights and 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]
Saudi Arabian Airlines did achieve operational profits in 2002, which doubled in 2003, but the profits were primarily due to over one billion riyals on deferred income amortised annually in the income statement, courtesy of the 70 aircraft gifted to the airline by the Saudi government. In 2004, the airline carried over 15 million passengers and recorded a 14% rise in profits.
The airline ordered 15 Embraer 170 aircraft in a deal worth $400 million in April 2005. They are to be based at Abha in the south and at Hail in the north.
[edit] Privatization
Long-planned to become a privatized corporation, the selling of the Kingdom's national airline to private investors was the focus of a written reprimand by Osama bin Laden in 1995.
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]
[edit] Destinations
See Saudi Arabian Airlines destinations
[edit] Fleet
Saudi Arabian Airlines operates the following aircraft as of April 2008 [1]:[4]
| Aircraft | Total | Passengers (First/Business/Economy) |
Routes | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Airbus A300-600R | 4 | 250+ (20+/0/230+) |
Short-medium haul | 2 Leased from Eagle Aviation 2 Leased from Onur Air |
| Airbus A320-200 | 1 (50 on order) |
146 (18/0/128) |
Short-medium haul | Leased from AtlasJet 5 more to be added from 2009 to replace MD-90[2] |
| Airbus A330-300 | (8 on order) | Short-long haul | ||
| Boeing 747-100B | 4 | 444 (All Economy) |
Short-medium haul | Leaving Fleet: 2010 |
| Boeing 747-300 | 11 | 393 (36/38/319) |
Short-long haul | 2 wet leased from Air Atlanta |
| Boeing 747-400 | 4 | 358 (36/32/290) |
Short-long haul | |
| Boeing 747SP | 2 | n/a | Short-long haul | Operated for VIP division |
| Boeing 757-200 | 2 | 200 (x/x/x) |
Short-long haul | Leased from Eagle Aviation |
| Boeing 777-200ER | 23 | 244 (30/31/183) |
Short-long haul | |
| Boeing 787 | (12 on order) | Short-long haul | ||
| Embraer E-170 LR | 15 | 66 (6/0/60) |
Short haul | |
| McDonnell Douglas MD-90-30 | 29 | 121 (18/0/103) |
Short-medium haul | To be phased out starting 2009 |
| Aircraft | Total | Capacity | Routes | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Boeing 747-200F | 2 | 238,059 lbs | Medium-long haul | 1 operated by Air Atlanta Icelandic |
| Boeing 747-400BCF | 1 | 239,000 lbs | Medium-long haul | Operated by Air Atlanta Icelandic |
| McDonnell Douglas MD-11F | 5 | 203,860 lbs | Medium-long haul | 1 operated by Gemini Air Cargo |
| Aircraft | Total | Passengers | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Boeing 747-300 | 1 | VIP | |
| Boeing 747-400 | 1 | VIP | Converted from passenger fleet |
| Boeing 747SP | 3 | VIP | 2 operated by passenger division |
| Boeing 757-200 | 1 | VIP | Fully equipped flying hospital |
| McDonnell Douglas MD-11 | 1 | VIP |
[edit] Other aircraft
- 6 Beechcraft Bonanza (training)
- 1 Dassault Falcon 900 (government use)
- 1 De Havilland Canada DHC-6 Twin Otter Series 300 (government use)
- 4 Gulfstream II (incl. 3 government use)
- 3 Gulfstream III (government use)
- 6 Gulfstream IV (government use)
- 2 Gulfstream V (government use)
- 8 Piper Archer II (training)
A number of military C-130s are painted with the Saudi colors and are flown by Royal Saudi Air Force crews to support Saudi official activities in the region and Europe.
The average age of the fleet is 12.8 years as of February 2007, with some of the current aircraft being more than 30 years old.[5]
[edit] New Aircraft Orders
Saudi Arabian Airlines have signed firm commitment for the following:
to be announced soon [3]. The aircraft will be a mix of Leased and Purchased.
[edit] Codeshare agreements
Saudi Arabian Airlines has codeshare agreements with the following airlines:
- Air France
- Air Jamaica
- Egypt Air
- Etihad Airways
- Gulf Air
- Iran Air
- Mahan Air
- Qatar Airways
- SriLankan Airlines
- Syrian Arab Airlines
[edit] Incidents and accidents
- 19 August 1980: Saudia Flight 163 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, a tire on a Saudi Arabian L-1011 exploded, penetrating the passenger cabin. The hole sucked out two passengers and depressurized the cabin. [6]
- 12 November 1996: Saudia Flight 763 collided with Air Kazakhstan Flight 1907, resulting in the 1996 Charkhi Dadri mid-air collision
- 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. [7]
- In 2007, a Saudi Arabian Boeing 747-300 collided with Garuda Indonesia Flight 238, a Boeing 737-500 during the 737's pushback. No injuries or fatalities were reported on both aircraft, and the Garuda was safe to take off
[edit] Trivia
- In the middle 1990s, a DC-3 that used to fly for Saudi Arabian was re-decorated in the airline's early livery and flown back to Saudi Arabia.
- The DC-3 that was delivered to Saudi Arabia's King in the 1940s is still kept, but not flown, by the airline. It sits on the runway by Saudi Arabian's terminal at Jeddah International Airport.
- From 1978 to 1983 Saudia was the title sponsor of the Williams Formula One team, with the airline's colours appearing on the championship winning cars of Alan Jones (1980) and Keke Rosberg (1982).
- Saudi Arabian Airlines, with Iran Air, are the only operators of the Boeing 747-100B
[edit] References
- ^ BBC News 28 March, 2006
- ^ Saudi Air Lauches Privatization With Catering Unit. Retrieved on 2007-09-14.
- ^ Saudi cabinet okays Saudi Arabian Airlines privatisation. Retrieved on 2007-09-14.
- ^ Fleet Detail
- ^ Airfleets.net. Saudi Arabian Airlines Fleet age.
- ^ Accident Database: Accident Synopsis 12231980
- ^ "Bomb hoax triggers panic at Sri Lanka airport," Asian Political News. 12 September 2005
[edit] See also
[edit] External links
- Saudi Airlines official website
- Ahlan Wasahlan inflight magazine
- Saudi Arabian Airlines : The Jewel of the Middle East, Boeing
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