Saudi Arabian to boost fleet size

http://archive.gulfnews.com/business/Av ... 23492.html

Dubai: Saudi Arabian Airlines, the Middle East's largest carrier in terms of passenger throughput, will buy up to 60 aircraft to increase frequencies and also plans a budget airline, a top official said.

Saudi Arabian's director-general, Khalid Bin Abdullah Al Molhem, said the airline needed the planes to further develop its routes, in an interview in the latest issue of the International Air Transport Association's bi-monthly magazine.

"We have too many routes without daily service and we have lots of co-terminal operations. Customers want to fly direct and they want the choice to fly when they want - a daily service," he said.

"Our plan is to downsize the aircraft but increase the frequency of direct service. That means the current fleet of 91 aircraft will need to expand by somewhere in the range of 40 to 60 aircraft."

He said the airline had been slow to purchase new aircraft, as it had been relying on sub-leasing planes while it updated its business plan.

"The business plan is now in place and we are looking at the purchase of a number of narrow-body aircraft to replace some wide-bodies," he said.

Saudi Arabian, which carried 18 million passengers last year, is targeting 22 million passengers a year in the next five years - a 25 per cent growth - fuelled largely by the steadily growing influx of religious pilgrims into the kingdom.

Now that its monopoly has been broken by the addition of budget airlines Sama and NAS, Al Molhem said Saudi Arabian is also planning a no-frills unit.

"The plan is to establish an LCC [low cost carrier] airline within the Saudi Arabian Group, probably starting with nine planes and hopefully carrying in the region of five to six million passengers within five years," he said.

However, Al Molhem hinted that he would seek protection from the government as budget competitors enter service.

"While we welcome competition, it must be fair. Saudi Arabian Airlines for example operates a number of public service routes," he said.

"These will no be of interest to LCCs who look primarily at high-density, profitable routes. We will need the government to develop policies to ensure that we are not unduly burdened."