Originally Posted by
SOPS
Can someone please explain to me, ( I must be a bit thick). Why start a whole new airline, why not just upgrade Saudia?
The answer is that they tried to start a Riyadh base with Saudia. It didn't work. The company has been based in Jeddah for 75 years and the vast majority of Pilots maintenance etc have there lives in Jeddah. Those staff could not be persuaded to move to Riyadh. Probably 90% of staff. The expats were forced to Riyadh but they represent only a small percentage of employees and getting smaller all of the time.
Riyadh is a city of 6 million relatively wealthy people who want to travel. A large longhaul Airline based in Riyadh is long overdue.