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Saudi Arabia Launches Aviation Strategy Linking 250 Int’l Destination

Minister of Transport Saleh Al-Jasser launching the national aviation strategy (Asharq Al-Awsat)
Minister of Transport Saleh Al-Jasser launching the national aviation strategy (Asharq Al-Awsat)
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Saudi Arabia Launches Aviation Strategy Linking 250 Int’l Destination

Minister of Transport Saleh Al-Jasser launching the national aviation strategy (Asharq Al-Awsat)
Minister of Transport Saleh Al-Jasser launching the national aviation strategy (Asharq Al-Awsat)

Saudi Arabia announced its new aviation strategy targeting 250 direct destinations to and from the Kingdom's airports, inaugurated a new air carrier, and tripled air traffic.

Minister of Transport Saleh Al-Jasser launched the aviation strategy at the Future Aviation Forum in Riyadh, aiming for Saudi Arabia to become the Middle East's hub for the sector in 2030.

The minister addressed the Kingdom's "great aviation reform," saying that it aims to host 300 million passengers and five million tons of freight reaching 250 destinations by 2030.

He added that Saudi Arabia aims to obtain an investment of $100 billion in the aviation sector by the end of this decade.
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He said that Saudi Arabia will also launch an additional national carrier to be among the world's best airlines, and we will upgrade its facilities, infrastructure, and airports led by its hubs, namely Riyadh and Jeddah.

The minister noted many opportunities for the private sector, pointing out that the ministry has changed more than 25 airports into holding companies to be ready for privatization.

President of the Council of the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) Salvatore Sciacchitano said that the sector must learn from the pandemic and the challenges of climate change in order to move forward.

Sciacchitano said that digitized travel documents would transform the passenger experience and make global aviation operation seamless, adding that climate change needs to be addressed in the aviation industry urgently.

He noted that developing the international civil aviation system is key to global cooperation and understanding.

Sciacchitano congratulated Saudi Arabia for its commitment to greener skies and a sustainable future, adding that the Kingdom's "exemplary work to address climate change and promote sustainability under the Saudi Green Initiative. The ambitious environmental targets under this initiative are a testimony to Saudi Arabia's strong commitment to this global issue."

During the Conference, Saudi carrier flynas secured a $225 million Murabaha corporate financing facility out of a total funding package of $599.86 million to boost further growth.

The financing was arranged by Credit Suisse and syndicated to several Saudi banks with leading participation from Banque Saudi Fransi, Arab National Bank, al-Rajhi Banking and Investment Corporation, and Bank Aljazeera, with Banque Saudi Fransi acting as Facility Agent.

President of the General Authority of Civil Aviation (GACA) Abdulaziz al-Duailej said that these facilities will accelerate achieving the national aviation strategy, which aims to "increase the annual passenger traffic in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia to 330 million passengers while linking the Kingdom to more than 250 destinations around the world."

Flynas CEO Bander al-Mohanna announced that the financing program would support the company's ambitious future growth plans to become the largest and leading independent low-cost airline in the Middle East and North Africa region.

In March, the company's strategic plan was approved by the Board of Directors, in which they agreed to increase the volume of its orders to 250 aircrafts.

Since its establishment in 2007, flynas has transported more than 60 million passengers as it connects more than 70 domestic and international destinations through its fleet of more than 35 aircraft.

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Italy in Talks with US, Azerbaijan, Algeria to Offset Loss of Gas from Qatar

A general view shows cisterns at the deposit of an oil site, in Rome on March 19, 2026. (Photo by Andreas SOLARO / AFP)
A general view shows cisterns at the deposit of an oil site, in Rome on March 19, 2026. (Photo by Andreas SOLARO / AFP)
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Italy in Talks with US, Azerbaijan, Algeria to Offset Loss of Gas from Qatar

A general view shows cisterns at the deposit of an oil site, in Rome on March 19, 2026. (Photo by Andreas SOLARO / AFP)
A general view shows cisterns at the deposit of an oil site, in Rome on March 19, 2026. (Photo by Andreas SOLARO / AFP)

Italy is talking to several countries, including the United States, Azerbaijan and Algeria, to secure gas supplies now that Iranian strikes on Qatar appear to have halted its exports for an extended period, Energy Minister Gilberto Pichetto Fratin said.

Iranian attacks have knocked out 17% of Qatar's liquefied natural gas (LNG) export capacity, causing an estimated $20 billion in lost annual revenue and ⁠threatening supplies to Europe ⁠and Asia, QatarEnergy's CEO told Reuters on Thursday.

"The very fact that Qatar's LNG plant that had been shut down was also bombed had a devastating impact on prices," Pichetto Fratin said on Friday attending ⁠an event in Milan.

Edison, an Italian unit of French power company EDF, has a long-term contract with QatarEnergy for the supply of 6.4 billion cubic meters of gas per year to Italy, nearly 10% of the country's annual gas consumption.

Qatar had already declared force majeure on gas exports earlier this month, flagging to Edison it would not be ⁠able ⁠to fulfill its contractual obligations concerning April.

The pause in supplies is likely be longer-lasting after its gas infrastructures were hit hard this week, QatarEnergy's CEO said.

Pichetto Fratin said on Friday that despite the disruption in supplies from the Middle East, Italy had agreed with the European Union that the bloc should not return to buying its gas from Russia.

Business

Shell: Repair of Second Unit at Pearl Facility in Qatar to Take About a Year

A digital price sign is seen at a Shell gasoline station in San Francisco, California, USA, 18 March 2026. EPA/JOHN G. MABANGLO
A digital price sign is seen at a Shell gasoline station in San Francisco, California, USA, 18 March 2026. EPA/JOHN G. MABANGLO
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Shell: Repair of Second Unit at Pearl Facility in Qatar to Take About a Year

A digital price sign is seen at a Shell gasoline station in San Francisco, California, USA, 18 March 2026. EPA/JOHN G. MABANGLO
A digital price sign is seen at a Shell gasoline station in San Francisco, California, USA, 18 March 2026. EPA/JOHN G. MABANGLO

Shell said on Friday that full repair of its train two at the Pearl GTL (gas-to-liquids) facility in Qatar would ⁠take around a ⁠year, confirming a statement to Reuters from QatarEnergy, after Iranian ⁠attacks earlier this week.

Shell said train one at the facility was not damaged, and its QatarEnergy LNG N(4), which Shell has ⁠a ⁠30% interest in and which equates to 2.4 MTPA of equity production, was not impacted.

Shell has a 100% interest in Pearl GTL in Qatar, which has capacity to process up to 1.6 billion cubic ⁠feet ⁠per day of wellhead gas, converting it into 140,000 bpd of gas-to-liquids.

Business

US Stocks Sink on Fears the War with Iran will Keep Interest Rates High

A bobble head depicting US President Donald Trump sits on a desk as traders works on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) at the opening bell in New York City, on April 14, 2025. (Photo by TIMOTHY A. CLARY / AFP)
A bobble head depicting US President Donald Trump sits on a desk as traders works on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) at the opening bell in New York City, on April 14, 2025. (Photo by TIMOTHY A. CLARY / AFP)
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US Stocks Sink on Fears the War with Iran will Keep Interest Rates High

A bobble head depicting US President Donald Trump sits on a desk as traders works on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) at the opening bell in New York City, on April 14, 2025. (Photo by TIMOTHY A. CLARY / AFP)
A bobble head depicting US President Donald Trump sits on a desk as traders works on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) at the opening bell in New York City, on April 14, 2025. (Photo by TIMOTHY A. CLARY / AFP)

US stocks are sinking Friday as hopes wither on Wall Street for a possible cut to interest rates by the Federal Reserve this year because of the war with Iran.

The S&P 500 fell 0.9% and was on track for a fourth straight losing week, its longest such streak in a year. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 285 points, or 0.6%, as of 10:30 a.m. Eastern time, and the Nasdaq composite was 1.2% lower.

Stocks sank under the weight of leaping yields in the bond market. They will make mortgage rates and other borrowing more expensive for US households and companies, slowing the economy, and they grind down on prices for all kinds of investments. Treasury yields have been jumping since the war began because it could cause a long-term spike in oil and natural gas prices that drives up inflation, The AP news reported.

Worries have gotten so high that traders have canceled nearly all their bets that the Federal Reserve could cut interest rates this year, according to data from CME Group. Some even see a possibility for a rate hike in 2026, which was a nearly unthinkable scenario before the war began.

Lower interest rates would give the economy and investment prices a boost, and they're something President Donald Trump has angrily been calling for. Before attacks by the United States and Israel began the war with Iran, traders were betting heavily that the Fed would cut interest rates at least twice this year.

But lower rates risk worsening inflation. And with oil prices so much higher now, investors see little room for central banks worldwide to cut interest rates to help their economies. Besides the Federal Reserve, central banks in Europe, Japan and the United Kingdom also held their interest rates steady this past week.

Friday's worries came even as oil prices calmed a bit. A barrel of Brent crude, the international standard, added 0.3% to $109.02 after drifting lower earlier in the morning. Benchmark US crude rose 0.3% to $95.78 per barrel.

The price of Brent has zigzagged sharply on its way there from roughly $70 per barrel before the war began. Big swings up and down have struck hour to hour as financial markets try to handicap how long the war will last and how much damage it will do to oil and gas production in the Arabian Gulf.

Much of the focus is on the Strait of Hormuz, a narrow waterway off Iran’s coast. A fifth of the world’s oil typically sails through it, but Iran has effectively closed it to its enemies.

On Wall Street, Super Micro Computer dropped 28% and helped drag the US stock market lower. The US government accused a senior vice president of the company and two others affiliated with it of conspiring to smuggle billions of dollars of computer servers containing advanced Nvidia chips to China.

The company said it’s cooperated with the investigation and is not a defendant in the indictment. It placed its two accused employees on administrative leave and terminated its relationship with an accused contractor.

On the winning side of Wall Street was FedEx, which rose 2.2% after delivering a much stronger profit for the latest quarter than analysts expected.

In the bond market, the yield on the 10-year Treasury jumped to 4.37% from 4.25% late Thursday and from just 3.97% before the war started. That's a significant move for the bond market.

The two-year Treasury yield, which more closely tracks expectations for what the Fed will do, jumped to 3.92% from 3.79% late Thursday and is near its highest level since the summer.

Outside of Wall Street, indexes fell in Europe following their wipeouts on Thursday. Indexes also sank in China, though South Korea’s Kospi added 0.3%.