Saudia and Riyadh Air announced the signing of a memorandum of understanding as part of a comprehensive agreement that includes operating flights using the shared code system, within joint efforts to better serve Saudi Arabia’s vision and ambitions in the aviation sector.
In a statement on Tuesday, the two companies said the MoU was the first major agreement between the carriers, and would lay solid foundations for a range of bilateral initiatives and agreements in the future.
In addition to enhancing the aviation sector in the Kingdom, this cooperation provides a comprehensive and diverse package of benefits for passengers travelling internationally and domestically within Saudi Arabia, including a broader range of destinations and services.
As part of the agreement, passengers on both carriers will be able to benefit from a wide range of advantages, explore code-share services and follow flights.
The deal will see the merging of the two carriers’ loyalty program so that travelers will be able to earn points or credits when traveling on code-share services operated by one of the two carriers.
Saudia CEO Capt. Ibrahim Koshy said: “We are very proud to form this strategic partnership with Riyadh Air, a cooperation that we consider to be an important turning point in the process of supporting the aviation sector. We are working to unify efforts to serve guests to and from the Kingdom, and we continue to move forward to achieve our ambitions to make a positive change in the aviation sector in general.”
Riyadh Air CEO Tony Douglas stated: “Riyadh Air and Saudia will play a significant part in the growth of travel tourism within the Kingdom and so having the national carriers working side-by-side is the best way to accelerate and manage this growth.”
He continued: “We are confident that Riyadh Air will raise the bar in air travel and working in cooperation with Saudia will help us achieve this as we prepare for take-off in 2025.”
