Saudi Arabia’s SaudiGulf Airlines will begin its first international flights in March, the airline announced on Tuesday.
The airline’s international operations will include two daily flights from Riyadh to Dubai, followed by flights to the Pakistani cities of Lahore, Islamabad, Peshawar and Sailikot from SaudiGulf’s hub in the eastern city of Dammam.
“After the successful launch of SaudiGulf Airlines, which brought a new level of service to passengers travelling domestically between Riyadh, Dammam, Jeddah and Abha in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, with up to approximately 200 weekly flights and a one million seat capacity to date, SaudiGulf Airlines is now ready to take this performance to an international stage,” said CEO Samer Majali.
SaudiGulf Airlines, which is owned by Abdulhadi Al Qahtani and Sons Holdin Company, was launched in mid-2016 with flights between Dammam and Riyadh, and has since expanded.
Earlier in January, the airline announced that it had hired 10 Saudi women for its customer service department, a number which it hopes to raise to 21 by March.
According to SaudiGulf, both the international expansion and the increased hiring of women are part of a wider effort to achieve Saudi Arabia’s “Vision 2030” goals.
