RIYADH: Saudi Arabia and Kazakhstan are set to boost bilateral trade, including tourism, after the Central Asian country’s Air Astana flag carrier operated its first direct flight to the Kingdom on Oct. 5.
Berik Aryn, Kazakhstan’s ambassador to Saudi Arabia, told Arab News on Friday: “Yes, Air Astana has operated the first regular flight from Almaty to Jeddah. It was launched yesterday (Thursday) and was received upon arrival by our consulate team in Jeddah.”
He added that this month, flights will be carried out on Wednesdays and Sundays, and from November, on Wednesdays and Saturdays.
“Hopefully, from the beginning of December, a third frequency on Mondays will be added to the schedule,” said the envoy.
“(Saudi budget airline) Flynas is also planning to operate flights in November from Jeddah,” said Aryn, adding: “We are also trying to operate direct flights from Riyadh.
“We are also in conversation with other airlines here to operate flights between the two countries,” said the envoy.
“This is good for further deepening bilateral ties and will encourage tourism and trade flourish between the two countries.”
In December last year, speaking at a roadshow titled “Tourism in Almaty,” organized by the Kazakhstan Embassy in Riyadh, Aryn told Arab News that Kazakhstan had relaxed visa requirements for Saudis visiting the Central Asian country.
“From January to September 2022, we witnessed an increase in tourists to Kazakhstan. I would also like to mention the increase in the number of Kazakh citizens who visited Saudi Arabia in 2022, which reached 20,000,” he said at the time.
“We understand that these figures still do not respond to the potential partnership in tourism. Nevertheless, we believe that our joint efforts are now providing favorable conditions for increasing tourism and building up trade and economic cooperation,” the envoy added.
An official statement from the Kazakh airline said: “Air Astana performed the first regular flight from Almaty to Jeddah. In October, flights will be operated on Wednesdays and Sundays, and from November, on Wednesdays and Saturdays. From the beginning of December, a third frequency will be added to the schedule on Mondays.”
The flights are operated by comfortable Airbus A321LR aircraft with a two-class layout and a capacity of 166 seats. The duration of the flight to Jeddah is six hours, 50 minutes, and five hours, 45 minutes inbound to Almaty, the statement added.
The port city of Jeddah, on the shores of the Red Sea, is known as the gateway to the holy city of Makkah.
Saudi Arabia, Kazakhstan set for trade boost after first direct flight, envoy says
https://arab.news/nmh53
Saudi Arabia, Kazakhstan set for trade boost after first direct flight, envoy says
- Air Astana plane touched down in Jeddah on Thursday
- Berik Aryn, Kazakhstan’s ambassador to Saudi Arabia, told Arab News flights will be carried out on Wednesdays and Sundays, and from November, on Wednesdays and Saturdays
Hafez Galley’s exhibition pays tribute to two Egyptian artists who shaped a visual era
- Artworks by Attyat Sayed and El Dessouki Fahmi will be on display until Feb. 28
JEDDAH: Hafez Gallery in Jeddah has opened an exhibition showcasing the works of influential Egyptian artists Attyat Sayed and El Dessouki Fahmi. The exhibition runs until Feb. 28.
Kenza Zouari, international art fairs manager at the gallery, said the exhibition offers important context for Saudi audiences who are becoming increasingly engaged with Arab art histories.
“Attyat Sayed and El Dessouki Fahmi’s decades-long practice in Cairo established foundational models for how artists across the region approach archives, press, and ultimately collective memory,” Zouari told Arab News.
Both artists emerged in an era when newspapers and magazines played a central role in shaping Egypt’s visual culture. Their early work in press illustration “demanded speed, clarity, the ability to distill complex realities into a single, charged image,” the gallery’s website states.
Seeing the works of both artists side-by-side is breathtaking. It’s fascinating to witness how press illustration shaped such profound and lasting artistic voices.
Lina Al-Mutairi, Local art enthusias
Heba El-Moaz, director of artist liaison at Hafez Gallery, said that this is the second time that the exhibition — a posthumous tribute to the artists —has been shown, following its debut in Cairo.
“By placing their works side by side, it highlights how press illustration, often considered ephemeral, became a formative ground for artistic depth, narrative power, and lasting influence, while revealing two distinct yet deeply interconnected artistic paths within modern Egyptian visual culture,” she told Arab News.
Sayed’s work evolved from black-and-white illustration into “layered, dynamic compositions that translate lived emotion into physical gesture, echoing an ongoing negotiation between the inner world and its outward form,” the website states. Viewed together, the works of Sayed and Fahmi “reveal two distinct yet deeply interconnected artistic paths that contributed significantly to modern Egyptian visual culture.”
The exhibition “invites visitors into a compelling dialogue between instinct and intellect, emotion and structure, spontaneity and reflection; highlighting how artistic rigor, cultural memory, and sustained creative exploration were transformed into enduring visual languages that continue to resonate beyond their time,” the gallery states.
Lina Al-Mutairi, a Jeddah-based art enthusiast, said: “Seeing the works of both artists side-by-side is breathtaking. It’s fascinating to witness how press illustration shaped such profound and lasting artistic voices. The exhibition really brings their vision and influence to life.”
