Saudi Arabian Airlines Logo — Saudi Arabian Airlines is the airline ‘s national Saudi Arabia , based in Jeddah . It operates scheduled domestic and international to over 70 destinations in the Middle East , Africa , Asia , Europe and North America and international charter flights especially in times of Ramadan and Hajj . The main airport is the airline’s King Abdulaziz Airport in Jeddah, also highlighting King Khalid Airport in Riyadh and Dammam King Fahd. The new Dammam airport was opened for commercial use on November 28 of 1999 , and was once exclusively for military use. Saudi Arabian Airlines is a member of the Arab Air Carriers Organization .
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When U.S. President Franklin Delano Roosevelt gave to King Abd al-Aziz ibn Saud with a Douglas DC-3 in 1945, the government saw the door open to begin the development of civil aviation in Saudi Arabia. Saudi Arabian Airlines was founded in September 1946 as a government agency under the control of Ministry of Defence, although the agency had a management agreement with the U.S. airline TWA . From the beginning the Airport Jeddah , close to downtown, served as a base of operations for the company. Among the first airline operations included special flights from the city Palestinians from Lydda to carry pilgrims to Jeddah. In March 1947 the company launched its regular flight Jeddah-Riyadh-Hofuf-Dhahran made by 5 Douglas DC-3, which was followed by the first international flight between Jeddah and Cairo. Services to Damascus and Beirut began in early 1948.
In 1949 the airline received the first of the 5 Bristol 170 expected. These aircraft offer great flexibility for carrying cargo, passengers or both mixed form where necessary. During the 50’s the company grew slowly but surely opening up routes to Istanbul , Karachi , Amman , Kuwait City , Asmara and Port Sudan and adding to the fleet 5 Douglas DC-4 and 10 Convair 340 , the first pressurized aircraft of the airline. In 1959, the company opened its first service center in Jeddah. In addition, 50 were the decade of consolidation of future Jeddah-Riyadh airlift.
In 1962, the airline received 2 Boeing 720 , the first in the Middle East in having jets in its fleet. On February 19 of 1963 the airline became a fully independent company after granting authorizations King Faisal ibn Abd al-Aziz. They were subsequently purchased new Douglas DC-6 and Boeing 707 and the airline was associated with AACO . Also began flights to Sharjah , Tehran , Khartoum , Bombay , Tripoli , Tunis , Rabat , Geneva (city) , Frankfurt and London . In 70 there was a new livery and the company changed its name to Saudia. Were acquired Boeing 737 as a means of replacing the Douglas DC-9 , plus new Boeing 747 . That decade also began charging the exclusive services between Saudi Arabia and Europe and added to the fleet new Lockheed L-1011 and Fairchild FH-27 . He presented the Arabian Express , airlift between Jeddah and unreservedly Riyadh. Division was also Special Flight Services dedicated to special flights for the Royal Family and the Government began services to Rome , Paris , Muscat , Kano and Stockholm . Finally, on February 3 of 1979 was inaugurated jointly PanAm-Saudia route between Dhahran and New York .
In the 80’s the company diversified its activities by opening services such as Saudia Catering . Also started flights to Athens , Bangkok , Dhaka , Mogadishu , Nairobi , New York , Madrid , Singapore , Manila , New Delhi , Islamabad , Seoul , Baghdad , Amsterdam , Colombo , Nice , Lahore , Brussels , Dakar , Kuala Lumpur and Taipei . Class was created Horizon Class on the flight Jeddah-Cairo and built platforms charge distribution in Brussels and Taipei. Were added Airbus A300 , Fokker F-28 and Cessna Citation to the fleet, the latter to the SFS division. In 1989 were opened routes to Larnaca and Addis Ababa .
In the 90’s there were services to Orlando , Chennai , Tokyo , Asmara , Washington DC , Johannesburg , Alexandria , Milan , Malaga and Sanaa . Were added to the fleet Boeing 777 Douglas DC-9 and McDonnell Douglas MD-11 , it banned smoking on domestic flights and some countries Muslims and introduced new uniforms designed by Adnan Akbar. On July 16th of 1996 was presented a new corporate image consistently an elegant beige that covers the body contrasting with the dark blue tail, in the center contains a stylized representation of the coat of arms of the House of Saud . It was further decided to delete the name of the recovering Saudia Saudi Arabian Airlines.
On October 8th of 2000 , Prince Sultan ibn Abdul Aziz Al Saud, Minister of Defence and Aviation, signed a contract which would conduct a study on the privatization of Saudi Arabian Airlines. In preparation for the process, the airline currently being restructured to allow divisions catering, handling and maintenance, as well as Flight Academy in Jeddah Prince Sultan commercial services become profitable. In April 2005, the Saudi Government said it could somehow liberalize the domestic market, thus breaking the monopoly of the airline.
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Saudi Arabian Airlines made a profit in 2002 and were folded in 2003, but are due to 195 million euros that the airline was saved by the 70 new aircraft donated by the Government. In 2004 the company carried more than 15 million passengers and profits rose 14%.
In April 2005 the airline ordered 15 Embraer 170 worth 290 million euros. Their bases are Abha in the south and Hail in the north.