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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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Euro Zone Poised to Enter Trade Quagmire as Trump Wins

A container ship unloads its cargo in the German port of Hamburg (Reuters)
A container ship unloads its cargo in the German port of Hamburg (Reuters)
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Euro Zone Poised to Enter Trade Quagmire as Trump Wins

A container ship unloads its cargo in the German port of Hamburg (Reuters)
A container ship unloads its cargo in the German port of Hamburg (Reuters)

As Trump 2.0 becomes a reality, Europe is poised to enter a new geopolitical and trade quagmire with its biggest trading partner.

Donald Trump's victory may harm Europe's economy as proposed 10% US tariffs risk hitting European exports such as cars and chemicals, eroding Europe's GDP by up to 1.5% or about €260 billion.

Analysts warn of European Central Bank (ECB) rate cuts, euro weakness, and a recession risk.

According to several economic analyses, there is broad agreement that Trump's proposed 10% universal tariff on all US imports may significantly disrupt European growth, intensify monetary policy divergence, and strain key trade-dependent sectors such as autos and chemicals.

The long-term effects on Europe's economic resilience could prove even more significant if tariffs lead to protracted trade conflicts, prompting the European Central Bank (ECB) to respond with aggressive rate cuts to cushion the impact, according to Euronews.

Trump's proposed across-the-board tariff on imports, including those from Europe, could profoundly impact sectors such as cars and chemicals, which rely heavily on US exports.

Data from the European Commission shows that the European Union exported €502.3 billion in goods to the US in 2023, making up a fifth of all non-European Union exports.

European exports to the US are led by machinery and vehicles (€207.6 billion), chemicals (€137.4 billion), and other manufactured goods (€103.7 billion), which together comprise nearly 90% of the bloc's transatlantic exports.

ABN Amro analysts, including head of macro research Bill Diviney, warn that tariffs “would cause a collapse in exports to the US,” with trade-oriented economies such as Germany and the Netherlands likely to be hardest hit.

According to the Dutch bank, Trump's tariffs would shave approximately 1.5 percentage points off European growth, translating to a potential €260 bn economic loss based on Europe's estimated 2024 GDP of €17.4 tn.

Should Europe's growth falter under Trump's tariffs, the European Central Bank (ECB) may be compelled to respond aggressively, slashing rates to near zero by 2025.

In contrast, the US Federal Reserve may continue raising rates, leading to “one of the biggest and most sustained monetary policy divergences” between the ECB and the Fed since the euro's inception in 1999.

Dirk Schumacher, head of European macro research at Natixis Corporate & Investment Banking Germany, suggests that a 10% tariff increase could reduce GDP by approximately 0.5% in Germany, 0.3% in France, 0.4% in Italy, and 0.2% in Spain.

Schumacher warns that “the euro area could slide into recession in response to higher tariffs.”

According to Goldman Sachs' economists James Moberly and Sven Jari Stehn, the broad tariff would likely erode eurozone GDP by approximately 1%.

Goldman Sachs analysts project that a 1% GDP loss translates into a hit to earnings per share (EPS) for European firms by 6-7 percentage points, which would be sufficient to erase expected EPS growth for 2025.