SAUDIA and the National Air Connectivity Program have signed an agreement, in which direct flights will be operated between Saudi Arabia and four new international destinations this year providing more than 60K seats annually. The agreement was signed by Captain Ibrahim Koshy, the CEO of SAUDIA Air Transport Company and Mr. Khalil Lamrabet, the CEO of the National Air Connectivity Program .
This agreement will enable both SAUDIA and the National Air Connectivity Program in enhancing air connectivity, as well as support the growth of tourism in the Kingdom.
Under this agreement, SAUDIA will begin a second route to Switzerland in August, with two-weekly direct flights from Riyadh to Zurich and two-weekly direct flights from Jeddah to Barcelona starting from July. In addition, there will be two new destinations that will be announced at a later date.
According to, Captain Ibrahim Koshy, “This agreement coincides with one of the most prominent goals of SAUDIA, which is bringing the world to the kingdom by expanding operations to new international destinations and making sure that we are providing more flights and seat capacity for our current network, which recently exceeded 100 destinations after launching a number of new destinations in the past months.
"We are pleased to launch this exciting partnership with SAUDIA” Said Mr. Khalil Lamrabet, CEO of the National Air Connectivity Program. “These new non-stop routes will positively affect tourism traffic from Spain and Switzerland by providing a more convenient option to travel and experience Saudi Tourism. We are confident that this partnership will provide a promising platform for additional Air Connectivity growth in support of the Kingdom's tourism sector."
In addition to Zurich and Barcelona, SAUDIA is adding 10 new routes to the network this year, which includes recently launched cities: Amsterdam (Netherlands), Entebbe (Uganda), and Bangkok (Thailand), Marrakech (Morocco), Malaga (Spain), Moscow (Russia), Beijing (China), the Greek island of Mykonos, Seoul (South Korea), and Chicago (USA) coming soon.