Saudia to boost flights to Sharm El-Sheikh from Feb
DUBAI, November 13, 2015
Saudi Arabian Airlines (Saudia) said on Thursday it planned to increase the frequency of its flights from the kingdom to the Egyptian Red Sea resort of Sharm El-Sheikh from February 2016.
The move was a show of support by Riyadh to Egypt, whose vital tourism industry is expected to suffer after a Russian passenger plane crashed two weeks ago following taking off from Sharm El-Sheikh.
The United States and Britain said they had intelligence assessments that the plane was bombed by Islamist insurgents.
Saudia's director general, Saleh bin Nasser Al-Jasser, was quoted as saying by the state news agency SPA that flights to Sharm El-Sheikh from Riyadh and Jeddah would increase by 75 per cent from February 2016.
The national carrier currently operates eight flights a week to Sharm El-Sheikh, four from Riyadh and four from Jeddah.
That will increase to 14 flights a week - seven from Riyadh and seven from Jeddah - over the next year, SPA said.
The fallout from the crash of a Russian passenger plane in Egypt's Sinai Peninsula could slash tourism income from Sharm Al-Sheikh by half, the head of the region's travel agents' association said this week.
Saudi Arabia is a major supporter of Egyptian President Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi and has, along with Kuwait and the UAE, poured billions of dollars into his country to shore up its economy. - Reuters
