RIYADH: Saudi Arabia’s aviation sector continues to expand as the General Authority of Civil Aviation reiterates its commitment to boost air connectivity to over 250 destinations.
During the authority’s participation in a session at the third economic symposium organized by the Riyadh Economic Forum, Mohammed Al-Khuraisi, the executive vice president of strategy and business intelligence at GACA, reviewed the main objectives of the National Aviation Strategy, the Saudi Press Agency reported.
This aligns with the Kingdom’s efforts to achieve the goals of Saudi Vision 2030, which aims for the Saudi aviation sector to become the top rated in the Middle East region.
As part of his speech, Al-Khuraisi highlighted additional goals of the strategy, including developing the infrastructure and operational procedures of airports, increasing the local market share of low-cost airlines, and enhancing the competitiveness of national carriers.
The National Aviation Strategy also seeks to enable fair competition and competitive prices globally as well as establish regulatory frameworks for operational procedures at the international and local levels, the executive vice president noted.
Furthermore, Al-Khuraisi also shed light on Saudi Arabia’s achievements in the field.
He underlined that the Kingdom jumped 14 places in the International Air Transport Association Air Connectivity Index in 2023, in addition to achieving the highest level of air connectivity during the year 2023 by reaching 149 destinations.
During the same year, the number of passengers reached 112 million, while a total of 815,000 flights were operated.
Concerning the development executed in airports, Al-Khuraisi said the last period witnessed the approval of a general plan and short-term expansions for King Salman International Airport as well as the approval of an uplift plan for King Abdulaziz International Airport.
In addition, the design of the general plan for Abha International Airport was approved, along with the launch of special logistics areas in Riyadh. He revealed that there are also plans to inaugurate similar areas in Jeddah and Dammam.
