Saudia has achieved outstanding operational performance and an unprecedented number of guests flown, total flights operated, and seat capacity during 2017.

The total number of passengers that travelled with the national carrier of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia rose significantly last year to reach more than 32 million guests.

At the same time, 200,000 flights flown last year.

The overall enhancement in operations and total growth is attributed to a number of initiatives within the airline.

In mid-2015, the airline launched a transformation program - the SV Strategic Plan 2020 - which was designed to develop the performance of the national carrier, raise the overall efficiency through the investment in new state-of-the-art modern aircraft; new onboard products, and talent development.

Saudia’s overall performance last year was a reflection of growth in passenger seats; total number of flights; and total guests flown on both domestic and international sectors.

More than two million additional seats were introduced into the domestic market, making worries about finding a seat in the domestic network a thing of the past.

Furthermore, the total number of guests traveling with SAUDIA on international sectors grew 14 per cent compared to the same period last year.

Overall, passenger numbers grew to 32.16 million guests in 2017, achieving an eight per cent increase in one year.

More than 200,000 flights were flown; 119,000 domestic flights; 78,000 international flights and more than 9,000 flights for Hajj and Umrah.

The total increase in flights was largely attributed to the significant investment in new modern aircraft, which the airline has taken delivery of – a total of 32 new aircraft were inducted into the fleet last year and 28 the year prior. 

Director general of Saudi Arabian Airlines, Saleh bin Nasser Al-Jasser, expressed his thanks to the highly valued team for their contributions and for the achievement of the overall operational plan in 2017.

He remarked: “The results and performance in 2017 demonstrate how the airline is achieving consistent growth on all accounts - passenger numbers, flights flown, total aircraft in the fleet and destinations.

“The achievements and the success in last year’s operational performance is a reflection in the widespread growth of the company, and the operational efficiencies that have been implemented, signifying the airline’s delivery on the objectives of the SV Transformation Plan.”