Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman announced plans on Tuesday to launch a second national airline as part of a broader strategy to turn the kingdom into a global logistics hub as it seeks to diversify from oil.
The creation of another flag carrier would catapult Saudi Arabia into the fifth rank globally in terms of air transit traffic, official state media reported, without giving details on when and how the airline would be created. Crown Prince Mohammed has been spearheading a push for Saudi Arabia.
The biggest Arab economy and the largest country in the Gulf geographically, to boost non-oil revenues to about 45 billion riyals ($12bn) by 2030. Making the kingdom a global logistics hub, which includes the development of ports, rail and road networks, would increase the transport and logistics sector’s contribution to gross domestic product to 10 percent from six percent, state news agency SPA said.
“The comprehensive strategy aims to position Saudi Arabia as a global logistics hub connecting the three continents,” the crown prince was quoted as saying in the SPA report. “This will help other sectors like tourism, Hajj and Umrah to achieve their national targets.”
The addition of another airline would increase the number of international destinations from Saudi Arabia to more than 250 and double air cargo capacity to more than 4.5 million tonnes, the SPA report said.
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