Low-cost Saudi airline launches operations in Pakistan
Business
Flight starts from Riyadh to Karachi
KARACHI (Web Desk) - Flyadeal, a low-cost Saudi airline, has commenced its operations in Pakistan with an inaugural flight from Riyadh to Karachi, an airline official said on Saturday.
Headquartered in Jeddah, Flyadeal is a subsidiary of Saudi national flag carrier, Saudia, and was launched on Sept. 23, 2017. Initially, it flew to destinations within the Kingdom, but expanded its network by launching flights from Dammam to Cairo in Jun. 2022.
Flyadeal’s move to expand operations to Pakistan comes as Saudi Arabia seeks to boost its tourism sector under the Vision 2030 program, which aims to attract over 150 million domestic and international tourists annually to the Kingdom by the end of the decade.
The inaugural Flyadeal flight, F3-661, arrived at Karachi’s Jinnah International Airport at 8:04am on Saturday, according to a Pakistani Airport Authority (PAA) spokesperson. It was followed by the departure of another flight from Karachi to Riyadh.
“We are very proud that today was the first departure from Karachi to Riyadh of our flight,” Farooq S. Ahmad, Flyadeal’s head of sales told Arab News on Saturday.
“The capacity of the aircraft is 186 seats and the aircraft went full. In fact, [for] the next one week, all our flights are full to Jeddah and to Riyadh.”
The official said a ceremony was held at the Karachi’s Jinnah International airport to mark the occasion, with passengers receiving gifts by the airline. He said consumers inevitably benefit whenever a new airline enters the market and competition increases.
