JEDDAH, 17 August 2004 — Saudi Arabian Airlines has posted a 40 percent increase in its revenues last year, the largest in its 60-year history, its Director General Dr. Khaled Ben-Bakr said in a press statement yesterday.
“This is the first time Saudia is making such a huge revenue in its whole history,” Ben-Bakr said without disclosing the figure.
He said the national carrier made this remarkable achievement while many international airline companies posted losses worth $20 billion over the past years.
“We achieved a record profit by implementing a scientific strategy and marketing plan matching with current situations and developments,” he added.
“All indicators show that we will continue to make good profits from operations this year,” the Saudia chief said, adding that the airline was set to make a new record by transporting 15 million passengers in 2004.
He said flexible and competitive prices, concentration on profitable markets and increase in Haj flights from all over the world were the main features of its strategy. Saudia transported 1.5 million Umrah pilgrims last year.
“We have achieved 92.31 percent on time performance in the first half of this year despite the large number of (average 260) flights we operate daily,” Ben-Bakr said.