RIYADH —
Saudi Arabia on Monday pitched aviation industry leaders on its plans to become
a global travel hub, drawing skepticism from analysts who questioned how it
could compete against regional heavyweights.
اضافة اعلان
The conservative kingdom’s aviation goals,
part of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman’s wide-ranging “Vision 2030” reforms,
include more than tripling annual traffic to 330 million passengers by the end
of the decade.
It also wants to draw $100 billion in
investments to the sector by 2030, establish a new national flag carrier,
construct a new “mega airport” in
Riyadh and move up to five million tonnes of
cargo each year.
Officials outlined how they intend to hit
those targets during a global aviation forum that began Monday in Riyadh.
Organizers said 2,000 delegates are trying to chart the airline industry’s
post-pandemic recovery.
“Over the next 10 years the kingdom will
emerge as the
Middle East’s leading aviation hub,” Transport Minister Saleh
Al-Jasser told the forum’s opening session.
The strategy hinges on tapping the large
domestic market of Saudi Arabia, whose population is around 35 million, he told
AFP in an interview, citing what analysts described as a major advantage for
Saudi carriers over regional rivals Emirates and Qatar Airways.
“We are very focused on building connectivity
to Saudi Arabia, in helping the tourism industry to grow in Saudi Arabia and
helping the Saudi people connect to the world... That’s what we are focused
on,” he said.
But steep competition raises questions about
how feasible the Saudi plans are.
“They’re fighting multiple headwinds on the
aviation front,” said Robert Mogielnicki with the
Arab Gulf States Institute in
Washington.
“You have established regional players that
have great brand recognition and are already important parts of the economies
of Qatar and Dubai.”
In Saudi Arabia, by contrast, “the air
transport sector is not as central to the economy so that urgency is not there,
though the Saudis do have big ambitions for the sector. It’s a new entity, so
they’re going to have to play catch-up.”
‘Not
going to be easy’
The
kingdom is currently served by flag carrier Saudia and its budget subsidiary
flyadeal, both based in the coastal city of Jeddah, as well as other budget
carriers including the Riyadh-based flynas.
Even without the kingdom’s planned new
airline, Saudi carriers are fighting for space not just with Emirates and
Qatar Airways but also regional budget airlines like flydubai and Air Arabia.
“It is a rather saturated market,” Henrik
Hololei, the European Commission’s Director-General for Mobility and Transport,
told AFP.
“It’s clear that it’s not going to be easy
for any airline that wants to have a global reach to enter that market.”
Multiple analysts highlighted the need for
Saudi Arabia to improve its airports.
Last weekend the head of the company that operates
the airport in Jeddah, gateway to the holy sites in
Mecca and Medina, was fired
after what state media described as “a crisis of overcrowding and flight
delays”.
Hololei said “the vision and very ambitious
announcements” need to be complemented by details.
“How they are going to play the cards, this remains to be
seen.”
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