Qatar Airways has expressed interest in launching a new airline in Saudi Arabia.
The Doha-based airline’s CEO, Akbar Al Baker, recently held talks with Saudi’s Prince Fahad bin Abdullah Al Saud to discuss opportunities arising from the country’s new aviation liberalisation policy.
With a market that is underserved in terms of domestic air services, Al Baker said Saudi Arabia represented a key growth area. He also expressed concerns however, over excessive fuel charges and the government’s policy of controlling domestic air fares.
As a result, Al Baker said that Qatar Airways was keen to invest in the Saudi domestic aviation market, but this was dependent on a “fundamental rethink by the government of certain factors which needed to be tackled”.
Qatar Airways currently operates to four cities in Saudi Arabia; Riyadh, Jeddah, Madinah and Dammam. While Saudi Arabia is the world’s 13th largest country – bigger than South Africa, Thailand and Japan combined – only three airlines offer domestic scheduled flights, with national carrier Saudi Arabian Airlines completing with low-cost carrier Nas Air and premium airline Mid East Jet.
