Saudi Airlines, which serves direct flights to major airports in Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) from London has received a Boeing 777 ER300 aircraft from Boeing in a bid to improve its fleet. It also has orders in pipeline from the rival manufacturer Airbus to ply its domestic and international routes. The Boeing in question is the fifth yet received and will be added to the fifty seven already part of the excellent fleet. Abdul Aziz Al-Hazmi, deputy director general, Saudi Airways was quoted as saying “Choosing the aircraft models is done according to a strategic plan to update the fleet in a way that meets increasing operational requirements in both domestic and international sectors. This is also in order to cover the increase in demand for Hajj Flights.

Boeing 777 ER300s have a capacity of 314 passengers with two cabins, economy and business. Thirty seats are dedicated to business class. The airline will also receive eight more Boeing 787-9 Dreamliners. The increase in number and quality of aircraft  is aimed at meeting the recently introduced summer flight plan. The plan includes major domestic and international destinations like New York, Washington, London, Paris, Kuala Lampur and Geneva. The plan aims to meet the rush of the peak summer holiday season. The summer season described as a big challenge to the airline by Director General Khaled Al-Molhem began on June 6 with the Saudi airlines operating 504 flights, including 328 in the domestic sector. Saudi is a major player in domestic sector as well specially from Riyadh to Jeddah and Jeddah to Madinah, there is lots of traffic.

On the international scene, the airline is expected to operate 12 flights weekly from Riyadh and Jeddah to New York and Washington this summer, offering 3,744 seats every week. The staff has also been increased in order to cop with the busy season. There will be eight flights weekly to Paris from Riyadh and Jeddah offering 2,384 seats, 6 flights to Milan, 6 flights to Frankfurt and 11  flights to Geneva. The airline will also operate 14 flights weekly from Riyadh, Jeddah and Madinah to Istanbul offering 3,010 seats.It plans to operate 12 flights weekly to the Malaysian capital of Kuala Lumpur offering 4,956 seats, 69 flights to Dubai with 13,370 seats, eight flights to Addis Ababa and four flights to Tunis.

London being one of the major tourist destinations for Saudis, the airline will operate 13 flights from Riyadh and Jeddah to the British capital, offering a total of 4,056 seats. Even vice versa, the number of people flying from London to KSA for  Hajj Flights and Umrah Flights is also increasing.

New set of rules created by the Saudi General Authority for Civil Aviation (GACA) have made it clear that if the flights are delayed or cancelled, Hajj and Umrah pilgrims will be given compensations for these delays and cancellations. This move was very welcomed by the Association of British Hujjaj (Pilgrims) (ABH), UK, who said the directive to airlines stood “long awaited”
Under these new guidelines, airlines will be responsible to give incentive for delayed and cancelled flights to the travellers. Some of the main points which were included in the guidelines are below:
1) The compensation includes flight delays, loss of baggage and other violations.
2) The statement also added, if they fail to pay the compensation within the specific time, they will have to pay the air travellers SR1,500 extra for each delayed day.
3) The amount of compensation decided by GACA will have to be paid by the respective airline within a month, ABH said this in a statement.
4) Passengers will be provided with free accommodation and meals in case of flight delay.

Airlines also advised by the Saudi authorities that they should inform passengers about flight cancellation as soon as possible and to cut down the number of cancelled flights. The General Secretary of A.B.H, Khalid Pervez said “This was a long awaited directive from the GACA which is extremely vital to address the chaotic situation seen specifically during the Hajj period where every year thousands of pilgrims suffer extreme pain, misery, and mental anguish due to delays and cancellations of flights, poor management, and other violations by some airlines.”
“These airlines and their appointed travel agencies are specifically targeting Hajj/Umrah pilgrims and force them to pay extortionate prices for their airline tickets compared to travelling the same distance to any other destination in the world,” Khalid Pervez also expressed.  He urged the Saudi authorities to investigate the issue of “severe exploitation” of Hajj Umrah pilgrims by some airlines.

Airlines like PIA will be deeply affected by the new rules whose flights are delayed regularly during Hajj season.

Hajj Flights: Pakistan International Airlines has decided to improve its technical manpower at King Abdul Azaiz Airport, Jeddah airport to help its local staff in an effort to improve punctuality of PIA’s landings and takeoffs. Things have worsened to a point where failing this, PIA might loose airport facilities in 2012 for Hajj flights operations.

Last year, thousands of Hajj passengers were stranded, delayed and inconvenienced because of delays in PIA’s Hajj operations.

The move has followed an official letter received by PIA in which Saudi authorities had informed making the provision of airport facilities to PIA during Hajj Operation 2012 conditional with its performance. According to the letter, the airline’s performance over the busy Ramadan season would be watched closely for the same.

Saudi authorities had informed that “If PIA fails to carry out smooth Umrah operation, it won’t be able to get many important airport facilities at Jeddah airport” which means an increase in the sufferings to Hujjaj this year.

Sources said that at a recent meeting held between the Jeddah airport authorities and PIA representatives at King Abdul Aziz International airport Jeddah, it was made clear to the airline representatives that PIA’s acquisition of airport facilities for the upcoming Hajj operation will be approved by the Saudi Authorities only after PIA’s satisfactory performance during Pre Ramadan and post Ramadan Umrah operation. This comes as a bolt from the blue for PIA, whose 70% flights to KSA have been delayed during the last couple of months.

Earlier, PIA was reprimanded by BAA (British aviation authorities) over delays and safety practices. This time around, it has been given a final warning by Saudi civil aviation authorities. Sources said that Saudis have been pointing out since long that frequent arrival and departure delays in PIA flights disturb schedules of other airlines at busy airports of Jeddah and Riyadh.

Since the start of this year till the end of March almost 400 flights to/from Jeddah got delayed out of more than 500 flights. During the same period, around 50 flights to and from Madinah also got delayed out of about 60 flights. Having a look at these stats and the dismal state the airline is already in, it is quite obvious how seriously the airline is taking its Hajj operations. Saudi airports are one of the most lucrative in terms of business as well for the troubled airline. However the proposed staff improvements are likely to improve the situation and one can only hope that the Hajj operations will be unaffected and the pilgrims will suffer less than the last year.