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Saudi Arabia announces launch of new national flag carrier

The Gulf kingdom is pursuing ambitious aviation goals as part of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman's wide-ranging "Vision 2030" reform agenda, including more than tripling annual traffic to 330 million passengers by the end of the decade.

Saudi Arabia's Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman has formally announced the creation of a new national airline, Riyadh Air, with industry veteran Tony Douglas as its chief executive, as the kingdom moves to compete with regional transport and travel hubs.

Riyadh Air will serve more than 100 destinations around the world by 2030, making use of the kingdom's location between Asia, Africa and Europe, the state news agency SPA said on Sunday.

The new airline is expected to add $20 billion to Saudi Arabia's non-oil GDP growth and create more than 200,000 jobs both directly and indirectly, it said.

The announcement may lead to a tougher battle for passengers, going head-to-head with regional giants Turkish Airlines, Emirates and Qatar Airways as the travel industry recovers from the pandemic.

Riyadh Air is wholly owned by Saudi Arabia's sovereign wealth fund, the Public Investment Fund (PIF), which has more than $600 billion in assets and is the main driver of the kingdom's efforts to diversify its economy and wean itself off oil.

In October, Saudi Arabia was in advanced negotiations to order almost 40 A350 jets from Airbus, with Boeing Co also lobbying for a slice of the kingdom's transportation expansion, industry sources had told Reuters.

The head of state-owned Saudi Arabian Airlines (Saudia) told Reuters news agency at the time that it was in talks with Boeing and Airbus on orders both for itself and a planned new carrier.

SOURCE: Reuters