Granting subsidized jet fuel prices to newly licensed foreign airlines does not come under the jurisdiction of the General Authority of Civil Aviation (GACA), said Prince Fahd bin Abdullah, GACA’s president, who added that Saudi Aramco could take a decision on the contentious issue.

Prince Fahd emphasized the need to revise jet fuel prices at Saudi airports and thanked the Shoura Council for raising the issue. “Fuel prices will be determined by Aramco, not GACA, and a joint panel has been set up to work out competitive jet fuel prices at Saudi airports that are comparable to prices in neighboring countries,” he said.

Prince Fahd was commenting on a recent Shoura Council statement urging GACA to help expedite the operation of domestic flights by Qatar Airways and Saudi Gulf to meet demand from a growing number of passengers and satisfy the Kingdom’s development requirements.

A member of the Shoura’s transport committee also pointed out that jet fuel prices at the Kingdom’s airports were higher than those in neighboring countries, which is reportedly one of the stumbling blocks that makes foreign airlines hesitant to enter the Kingdom’s domestic market.

“GACA’s role is a supervisory one in terms of activating the licenses of the new domestic flight operators,” Prince Fahd, who is also chairman of Saudi Arabian Airlines, told Al-Arabiya news channel.

GACA has given the new airlines adequate time to purchase aircraft and make other preparations to provide services with high efficiency, he said.

Prince Fahd said the new airlines would promote competition and improve services. “GACA has completed procedures for the operation of the new airlines. We have done our part and it is the duty of the airlines to do whatever is required for operating flights, such as purchasing aircraft and equipment, and this may take time,” he explained.

Prince Fahd said that GACA has identified the domestic sectors that the new airlines will cater to. “They will have a specific size of fleet in the beginning and the number of aircraft will gradually increase in proportion to the number of passengers,” he said. GACA is following up on the measures being taken by the airlines to operate flights, he added.

In a previous statement, Saudi Aramco’s President and CEO Khalid Al-Falih said: “Jet fuel is available at all Saudi airports at internationally competitive prices. The decision to subsidize prices must come from the government.”