Saudi Arabian Airlines (Saudia) has decided to expand its operations to Bahrain, adding 29,000 seats on its scheduled flights from Jeddah and Riyadh to Manama, said Abdulrahman Al-Fahad, vice president public relations.
“This will bring the number of seats to be made available on our Manama flights to 142,956 in 2015 compared to 113,934 seats in 2014, showing a 25 percent increase in seats,” Al-Fahad said.
He said the number of Saudia flights from Saudi Arabia to Bahrain has been increased to 38 flights weekly, registering a 33 percent rise.
“We have hiked the flights and seats considering the growing traffic of passengers between the two countries and increase our share in passenger traffic on this important sector,” he said.
Saudia has increased its Jeddah-Manama direct flights from seven to 10 weekly during February 2015 while Riyadh-Manama flights will be increased from seven to nine weekly on May 3, the Saudia official said.
Al-Fahad said Saudia transported 80,729 passengers between the two countries last year operating 1,465 flights.
“Saudia increases its flights to different domestic and international destinations based on market studies and considering the growing demand of passengers and the airline capacity,” Al-Fahad said.
Saudia will expand its operations to international destinations with the arrival of newly purchased aircraft, he said. The airline has already received 77 of 90 aircraft it had ordered from Airbus and Boeing.
He said the two new flights between Riyadh and Manama would be operated on Tuesday and Saturday. It will leave the Saudi capital at 06:50 and arrive in Manama at 08:05. The return flight will take off at 09:00.
The new Jeddah-Manama flights will be operated on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays. It will take off at 20:00 and arrive in Manama at 22:10. The return flight will start at 23:10 and arrive in Jeddah at 01:40.