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Saudi Arabia Launches 20 New Flight Routes to Europe

Saudi Arabia launched 20 new routes linking the Kingdom to new cities in Europe through Wizz Air, Europe's fastest-growing airline. (Asharq Al-Awsat)
Saudi Arabia launched 20 new routes linking the Kingdom to new cities in Europe through Wizz Air, Europe's fastest-growing airline. (Asharq Al-Awsat)
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Saudi Arabia Launches 20 New Flight Routes to Europe

Saudi Arabia launched 20 new routes linking the Kingdom to new cities in Europe through Wizz Air, Europe's fastest-growing airline. (Asharq Al-Awsat)
Saudi Arabia launched 20 new routes linking the Kingdom to new cities in Europe through Wizz Air, Europe's fastest-growing airline. (Asharq Al-Awsat)

Saudi Arabia launched 20 new routes linking the Kingdom to new cities in Europe through Wizz Air, Europe's fastest-growing airline.

The airline will introduce new destinations from Bucharest, Budapest, Catania, Larnaca, Milan, Naples, Rome, Tirana, Varna, Venice, and Vienna to Riyadh, Jeddah, and Dammam.

The General Authority of Civil Aviation (GACA) stated that the new routes would link Saudi Arabia to the world and create greater competition, enabling foreign airlines to expand in the Saudi market and boost tourism.

The new routes aim to boost the growing Saudi Arabian tourism sector and contribute to the Vision 2030 program to triple the country's passenger traffic by 2030 to reach 330 million passengers.

GACA aims to increase the number of destinations offered from the Kingdom's airports from 100 to 250 by 2030.

The Authority announced that the Kingdom would reduce the fees imposed by the Kingdom's main airports on airlines between 10 and 35 percent to create a regulatory framework to support a competitive aviation environment.

Reducing airport charges for Riyadh, Jeddah, and Dammam is part of the Saudi aviation strategy, a comprehensive sector reform program enabling industry investment totaling $100 billion.

Vice President of Economic Policies and Air Transport at GACA Ali Rajab said the new routes would boost Saudi Arabia's connectivity, demonstrate progress in delivering on the strategic objectives, and create a more competitive sector.

Rajab stressed: "We are committed to reducing costs in Saudi Arabia's aviation sector to ensure long-term competitiveness and growth."

He indicated that this marks another step in Saudi Arabia's vision to create a leading aviation sector with seamless experiences that exceed the expectations of businesses, investors, and passengers.

"Saudi Arabia is unleashing unprecedented aviation opportunities as the Kingdom connects to the world," he added.

The National Strategy is an ambitious plan based on privatization and will enable the development of Saudi airports to raise their operational efficiency and provide the highest standards of passenger services.

Over time, these changes will create investment opportunities that will significantly increase the Kingdom's GDP and enable Foreign Direct Investment (FDI).

The Strategy is driving significant freight growth and enhancing the logistics sector, and aims to empower Vision 2030 and become the leading aviation sector in the Middle East.

The Strategy will promote Saudi aviation by supporting sub-sectors of the civil aviation sector and ensure the Kingdom becomes a leader in the global industry drive to improve safety, enhance customer experience, and promote long-term environmental sustainability.

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Trump Exempts Mexico Goods from Tariffs for a Month, but Doesn’t Mention Canada

Construction workers are seen on the site of a new development in Long Beach, California, March 5, 2025. (AFP)
Construction workers are seen on the site of a new development in Long Beach, California, March 5, 2025. (AFP)
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Trump Exempts Mexico Goods from Tariffs for a Month, but Doesn’t Mention Canada

Construction workers are seen on the site of a new development in Long Beach, California, March 5, 2025. (AFP)
Construction workers are seen on the site of a new development in Long Beach, California, March 5, 2025. (AFP)

US President Donald Trump on Thursday said Mexico won't be required to pay tariffs on any goods that fall under the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement on trade until April 2, but made no mention of a reprieve for Canada despite his Commerce secretary saying a comparable exemption was likely.

"After speaking with President Claudia Sheinbaum of Mexico, I have agreed that Mexico will not be required to pay Tariffs on anything that falls under the USMCA Agreement," Trump wrote on Truth Social. "This Agreement is until April 2nd."

Earlier on Thursday, US Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick said the one-month reprieve on hefty tariffs on goods imported from Mexico and Canada that has been granted to automotive products is likely to be extended to all products that comply with the US-Mexico-Canada Agreement on trade.

Lutnick told CNBC he expected Trump to announce that extension on Thursday, a day after exempting automotive goods from the 25% tariffs he slapped on imports from Canada and Mexico earlier in the week.

Trump "is going to decide this today," Lutnick said, adding "it's likely that it will cover all USMCA-compliant goods and services."

"So if you think about it this way, if you lived under Donald Trump's US-Mexico-Canada agreement, you will get a reprieve from these tariffs now. If you chose to go outside of that, you did so at your own risk, and today is when that reckoning comes," he said.

Nonetheless, Trump's social media post made no mention of a reprieve for Canada, the other party to the USMCA deal that Trump negotiated during his first term as president.

Lutnick said his "off the cuff" estimate was that more than 50% of the goods imported from the two US neighbors - also its largest two trading partners - were compliant with the USMCA deal that Trump negotiated during his first term as president.

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau called Lutnick's comments "promising" in remarks to reporters in Canada.

"That aligns with some of the conversations that we have been having with administration officials, but I'm going to wait for an official agreement to talk about Canadian response and look at the details of it," Trudeau said. "But it is a promising sign. But I will highlight that it means that the tariffs remain in place, and therefore our response will remain in place."

Lutnick emphasized that the reprieve would only last until April 2, when he said the administration plans to move ahead with reciprocal tariffs under which the US will impose levies that match those imposed by trading partners.

In the meantime, he said, the current hiatus is about getting fentanyl deaths down, which is the initial justification Trump used for the tariffs on Mexico and Canada and levies on Chinese goods that have now risen to 20%.

"On April 2, we're going to move with the reciprocal tariffs, and hopefully Mexico and Canada will have done a good enough job on fentanyl that this part of the conversation will be off the table, and we'll move just to the reciprocal tariff conversation," Lutnick said. "But if they haven't, this will stay on."

Indeed, Trudeau is expecting the US and Canada to remain in a trade war.

"I can confirm that we will continue to be in a trade war that was launched by the United States for the foreseeable future," he told reporters in Ottawa.