ISLAMABAD: Saudi Arabia’s ambassador to Pakistan, Nawaf bin Said Al-Malki visited the Saudi Arabian Airlines’ office in Karachi to appreciate the hard work put in by the staff in ensuring seamless flight operations in the country, the Saudi Embassy tweeted on Friday.

The airline, popularly known as Saudia, is the Kingdom’s national carrier and flies to major cities in Pakistan, with branches across the country as well.

A representative of the airline at the Karachi office told Arab News that because of the high-quality services offered by Saudia, it has managed to win the hearts of thousands of passengers in Pakistan, leading to an increase in the number of flights plying the routes, over the past couple of years.

“There are 20 weekly scheduled fights of Saudi Airline from Karachi. Previously 14 flights would be operated from the seaside Pakistani metropolis,” the official said, adding that the number of scheduled flights from Lahore and Islamabad are currently 16 each, whereas seven flights operate from Peshawar and six from Multan on a weekly basis.

“The passengers from Pakistan prefer Saudia and only fly another airline when they are unable to get a seat with Saudia,” the representative added.

“Saudia started out in 1945 with a single twin-engine DC-3 (Dakota) HZ-AAX gifted to King Abdul Aziz by the US President Franklin D. Roosevelt. This was followed months later with the purchase of two more DC-3s, and these formed the nucleus of what in few years later was to become one of the world’s largest airlines,” the airline said on its website.