SAUDIA and GE Digital Sign Agreement for Aviation Solutions

SAUDIA, the national flag carrier of Saudi Arabia, has signed an agreement with GE Digital, an energy software leader, to implement three solutions from its suite of aviation software. 

The deal was signed at a ceremony in Jeddah by Mr. Abdulgader Attiah, the Chief Data Officer in SAUDIA, and Mr. Rami Aynati, the Commercial General Manager - Europe, ME, and Africa for GE Digital’s Aviation Software team. 

Under the agreement, GE Digital will provide SAUDIA with three software solutions to optimize the Kingdom’s 77-year-old airline’s operations in line with its ambitious sustainability goals.

GE Digital’s Fuel Insight is expected to help SAUDIA reduce its fuel costs and carbon emissions by better understanding its own data. The software is designed to visually merge actual flight data with intended flight plans, allowing analysts to drill down from macro trends to understand issues on a per-flight level.

SAUDIA is focused on maintaining the highest level of safety by tracking and monitoring safety performance, optimizing practices and processes to minimize safety events, understanding fuel consumption trends over time, and recognizing potential savings associated with adopting sustainability best practices. GE Digital’s solution, Safety Insight, is designed to support SAUDIA in those initiatives.

Finally, GE Digital’s FlightPulse® is designed to empower SAUDIA pilots with data-driven pre-flight and post flight self-briefings, enabling more informed decisions around fuel and safety.

Mr. Abdulgader Attiah said, “SAUDIA’s significant investment in the latest, sophisticated technology from GE Digital is part of our strategy to operate in the most efficient way possible. From saving fuel and reducing carbon emissions to enabling our pilots to access their own flight performance data at any time, these new systems will ensure SAUDIA is making decisions based on precise, real-time data which integrates sustainability goals at every point.” 

“We’re proud to deepen our relationship with SAUDIA,” said Andrew Coleman, General Manager of GE Digital’s Aviation Software business. “The future of flight is rooted in software, so it’s exciting to see a major international carrier doubling down on their investment in technology to lower their carbon footprint while raising fuel efficiency.”

SAUDIA places digital transformation at the forefront to its transformation strategy, and this enhanced partnership with GE Digital is a testament of the efforts SAUDIA is going through. The national flag carrier connects four continents with more than 100 destinations globally and operates one of the world’s youngest fleets. Its 144 aircraft comprise a mix of modern Airbus and Boeing narrow- and wide-body jets.