Saudia plans flights to Toronto, LA

Saudi Arabian Airlines will operate two new flights to Toronto and Los Angeles, it was announced yesterday. Prince Fahd bin Abdullah, president of the General Authority of Civil Aviation and chairman of Saudia’s board of directors, has approved the plan. “We’ll operate flights to the Canadian city in the third quarter of 2013 and Los Angeles in the second quarter of 2014,” said Khaled Al-Molhem, director general of the airline. Saudia currently operates flights to the US cities of Washington and New York. He said Saudia would receive four out of 20 Boeing 777-300ER aircraft by the end of 2013. “We’ll use this aircraft for our Los Angeles flights,” he said while highlighting the plane’s advanced features enhancing passenger comfort. He said the new flights would serve Saudi scholarship students in Canada and the US apart from other passengers. From April 2013, Saudia will operate 14 flights weekly to Washington and New York, using larger aircraft. Al-Molhem disclosed plans to operate 11 flights weekly to Paris (seven from Jeddah and four from Riyadh) using B777-200 aircraft, and 14 flights to Geneva (seven each from Jeddah and Riyadh) from the peak of summer. He said the airline’s huge investment on aircraft and IT infrastructure had yielded fruits in terms of increase in number of passengers and record rise in revenues in 2012. From Arab News