Saudia plans biggest jet order as it focuses on pilgrimage flights

Saudi Arabia’s 80-year-old flagship carrier is preparing to make its largest jet order yet, as it refocuses on religious pilgrimages in the kingdom’s renewed push to become a travel and tourism hub.

Executives from Saudia are studying models from Airbus and Boeing for an order of at least 150 narrowbody and widebody jets, which are expected to replace some of its 200-strong fleet, while also boosting its total stock, Bloomberg reports.

It comes as startup Riyadh Air is preparing to launch full commercial services in coming weeks, with the goal of becoming an upmarket tourist and business carrier. Saudia will reposition itself to take advantage of the growth in religious tourists flocking to Mecca and Medina.

Meanwhile, Dubai’s Emirates airline has lost more than $10 billion in freight and passenger revenues because of ongoing delays in deliveries from Boeing and Airbus, Sir Tim Clark, its President, told Arabian Gulf Business Insights.

Emirates’ order backlog has now reached 315 planes from Boeing and 57 from Airbus, with 18 A350s due before the end of this year. Clark said about 120 of the Boeing planes should have been delivered by now.

Saudia in talks with SpaceX to outfit aircraft with Starlink

Saudia Airlines is talking with Elon Musk’s SpaceX to bring Starlink’s high-speed internet to more than 140 of its aircraft.

If signed, the deal would mark SpaceX’s entry into the Gulf’s largest economy, even as local rival Neo Space Group races to develop its own in-flight service, Bloomberg reports.

While Saudia, the country’s flagship airline, did not comment on the news, its chief guest experience officer, Rossen Dimitrov, said in a post on LinkedIn that he recently toured SpaceX’s industrial complex in Texas to explore “the exciting future they are bringing to aviation.”

Starlink’s airline service follows a subscription model, with upfront hardware costs of $300,000 to $500,000 per plane plus a monthly fee per seat.

SpaceX is also in talks with Emirates, Flydubai, and Gulf Air, the news agency added. 

Saudia airline being repositioned for kingdom’s tourism push

As Saudi Arabia’s new Riyadh Air prepares to start flying next year, the kingdom’s venerable carrier Saudia is being repositioned to fit into a new blueprint for boosting business and tourism.

The Saudi Public Investment Fund has started talks to acquire Jeddah-based Saudia, which flies to 90 destinations, in a step that may lead to the airline’s privatization, Bloomberg reports.

The two airlines will work in tandem to pursue the kingdom’s twin goals of bolstering access to Saudi Arabia as a regional finance hub while also turning it into a magnet for foreign tourists.

Under the plan, Riyadh Air pursues the business crowd and Saudia will focus more on the market for religious pilgrimages to the holy cities of Mecca and Medina.