The airline transported 684,870 passengers on 3,073 flights during the period, showing a seven percent increase compared to the same period in 2014.
Mr. Rashid bin Ahmed Al-Zahrani, general manager for the region that covers Tabuk, Yanbu, Hail, Al-Wajh, Turaif, Al-Jouf, Gurayat, Rafha and Al-Ula, said: “SAUDIA gives utmost importance to cities in the northern region like other cities in the country.”
He added: “We have introduced new flights such as Jeddah-Al-Ula and Tabuk-Cairo to strengthen the region’s performance. We have also increased flights to the region.”
In the first quarter of 2014 the airline transported 638,992 passengers on 2,979 flights between cities of the region.
Referring to on-time performance of flights, Mr. Al-Zahrani said it reached 99.82 percent, which is a record figure. “We have also handled 390,635 pieces of baggage during the first quarter, which is 4.5 percent more than the previous year. We have also taken care of 8,863 passengers of special needs, 11 percent more than the previous year.”
Mr. Faris bin Majed Al-Shualan, manager domestic stations in the north, recently chaired the region’s quarterly meeting in Yanbu and discussed its achievements in 2014, plans for 2015 and steps to improve services and appreciated work of outstanding staff members.
Earlier this year, SAUDIA announced its plan to expand its operations to the northern cities of Al-Jouf, Arar and Rafha. “We have a plan to increase the number of flights and seats from Riyadh to the northern region beginning from May. We’ll also operate bigger aircraft on these routes to accommodate more passengers,” a senior airline official said.
He said the move comes in line with the airline’s continuous updating of schedule for domestic flights. “We allocate about 70 percent of our daily flights to transport passengers between Saudi cities,” he added.
The official said the national flag carrier would increase six flights on the Riyadh-Al-Jouf route, increasing total weekly flights on the sector to 42 offering 5,940 seats. It will operate A320 aircraft on the route.
“We’ll increase four flights weekly on the Riyadh-Arar route bringing the total flights to 30 weekly with 3,960 seats,” the official said.
On the Riyadh-Rafha sector, the airline will operate four additional flights bringing the total weekly flights to 22 offering 1,452 seats.
“We have decided to increase the number of flights on these sectors to meet the demand of growing numbers of passengers,” he added.