Flynas Announces 7 New Destinations, 4th Operations Base in Saudi Arabia

Madinah Airport. (Madinah Airport)
Madinah Airport. (Madinah Airport)
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Flynas Announces 7 New Destinations, 4th Operations Base in Saudi Arabia

Madinah Airport. (Madinah Airport)
Madinah Airport. (Madinah Airport)

Flynas, the national airline and the leading low-cost carrier in the Middle East and the world, added seven new routes to its network from its new operations base at Madinah Airport, starting December 2023.

Flynas is the only carrier with four operations bases across the Kingdom.

The new announcement comes within the Pilgrims Experience Program (PEP) objectives to facilitate access to the Two Holy Mosques and the National Civil Aviation Strategy.

It would enable national air carriers to contribute to connecting the Kingdom with 250 international destinations and to reach 330 million passengers and to attract 100 million tourists annually by 2030.

Managing Director of Tibah Airports Operations Company Sofiene Abdessalem recently signed a partnership agreement with CEO and Managing Director of flynas Bander al-Mohanna to launch the carrier’s newest operations base at Madinah Airport.

The base aims to diversify and increase international and domestic destinations to and from Madinah Airport. Flynas has three other operations centers in Riyadh, Jeddah, and Dammam.

The company will launch two domestic routes from Madinah to Abha and Tabuk and five international routes to Dubai, Amman, Baghdad, Istanbul, and Ankara to be operated alongside the other four existing routes from Madinah to Riyadh, Jeddah, Dammam, and Cairo.

The additions will bring the number of routes operated by flynas from Madinah to 11.

Mohanna said the launch of the new operations center coincides with taking delivery of new aircraft to further upscale flynas fleet.

"The operations from our new operations base will start with two aircraft as a first stage, and we are planning to increase our operations and fleet size and to launch more destinations to achieve our strategy ‘We Connect the World to the Kingdom’," said Mohanna.

He noted that the company aims to enhance the guests' experience with direct flights to many destinations in and outside Saudi Arabia, creating new job opportunities and increasing Saudization in the Aviation industry.

Flynas connects more than 70 domestic and international destinations with more than 1,500 weekly flights and has flown more than 60 million passengers since its launch in 2007 to reach 165 domestic and global goals, in line with the objectives of Vision 2030.



Trump Taps Scott Bessent for Treasury

(FILES) Scott Bessent, head of Key Square Group and former chief investment officer of Soros Fund Management, attends the second day of the annual Allen & Company Sun Valley Conference, July 12, 2017 in Sun Valley, Idaho.(Photo by Drew ANGERER / GETTY IMAGES NORTH AMERICA / AFP)
(FILES) Scott Bessent, head of Key Square Group and former chief investment officer of Soros Fund Management, attends the second day of the annual Allen & Company Sun Valley Conference, July 12, 2017 in Sun Valley, Idaho.(Photo by Drew ANGERER / GETTY IMAGES NORTH AMERICA / AFP)
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Trump Taps Scott Bessent for Treasury

(FILES) Scott Bessent, head of Key Square Group and former chief investment officer of Soros Fund Management, attends the second day of the annual Allen & Company Sun Valley Conference, July 12, 2017 in Sun Valley, Idaho.(Photo by Drew ANGERER / GETTY IMAGES NORTH AMERICA / AFP)
(FILES) Scott Bessent, head of Key Square Group and former chief investment officer of Soros Fund Management, attends the second day of the annual Allen & Company Sun Valley Conference, July 12, 2017 in Sun Valley, Idaho.(Photo by Drew ANGERER / GETTY IMAGES NORTH AMERICA / AFP)

President-elect Donald Trump on Friday said he will nominate prominent investor Scott Bessent as US Treasury secretary, a key cabinet position with vast influence over economic, regulatory and international affairs.

"I am most pleased to nominate Scott Bessent to serve as the 79th Secretary of the Treasury of the United States," Trump said in a statement released on Truth Social. "Scott is widely respected as one of the world's foremost international investors and geopolitical and economic strategists."

Wall Street has been closely watching who Trump will pick, especially given his plans to remake global trade through tariffs and extend and potentially expand the raft of tax cuts enacted during his first term, Reuters reported
The choice came after days of deliberations by Trump as he sorted through a shifting list of candidates. Bessent spent day after day at Trump's Mar-a-Lago home in Florida providing economic advice, sources said, a proximity to the president-elect that may have helped him prevail.
Other names that had been floated included Apollo Global Management Chief Executive Marc Rowan and former Federal Reserve Governor Kevin Warsh. Investor John Paulson had also been a leading candidate, but dropped out, while Wall Street veteran Howard Lutnick, another contender, was appointed as head of the Commerce Department.
Bessent, who did not immediately respond to a request for comment, has advocated for tax reform and deregulation, particularly to spur more bank lending and energy production, as noted in a recent opinion piece he wrote for The Wall Street Journal.
The market's surge after Trump's election victory, he wrote, signaled investor expectations of "higher growth, lower volatility and inflation, and a revitalized economy for all Americans."
"Bessent has been on the side of less aggressive tariffs," said Oxford Economics' Ryan Sweet, adding that picking him makes the steep tariffs Trump proposed on the campaign trail less likely.
Bessent follows other financial luminaries who have taken the job, including former Goldman Sachs executives Robert Rubin, Hank Paulson and Steven Mnuchin, Trump's first Treasury chief. Janet Yellen, the current secretary and first woman in the job, previously chaired the Federal Reserve and White House Council of Economic Advisers.
Republican US Senator Lindsey Graham from South Carolina, Bessent's home state, said in a statement: "President Trump's economic agenda is in good hands with Scott Bessent. I look forward to working closely with Scott and President Trump to lower inflation and create the golden age of prosperity for the American people."