Saudi Arabian Airlines has decided to expand its operations to the northern cities of Al-Jouf, Arar and Rafha as part of a strategic plan to increase flights to Saudis cities, said Abdullah Al-Ajhar, executive vice president for public relations.

“We have a plan to increase the number of flights and seats from Riyadh to the northern region beginning from May. We’ll also operate bigger aircraft on these routes to accommodate more passengers,” he said.

He said the move comes in line with the airline’s continuous updating of schedule for domestic flights. “We allocate about 70 percent of our daily flights to transport passengers between Saudi cities,” he added.

Al-Ajhar said the national flag carrier would increase six flights on the Riyadh-Al-Jouf route, increasing total weekly flights on the sector to 42 offering 5,940 seats. It will operate A320 aircraft on the route.

“We’ll increase four flights weekly on the Riyadh-Arar route bringing the total flights to 30 weekly with 3,960 seats,” Al-Ajhar said.

On the Riyadh-Rafha sector, the airline will operate four additional flights bringing the total weekly flights to 22 offering 1,452 seats.

“We have decided to increase the number of flights on these sectors to meet the demand of growing numbers of passengers,” he added.

Meanwhile, Saudia recently launched a bouquet of smartphone services, which would work on iPhones running the iOS7 operating system or later versions.

“The new iPhone services will enable Saudia to cope with the latest developments in the aviation industry and further improve customer services making use of modern information technology,” Al-Ajhar said.

The new application would be available, in the first phase, for booking on domestic flights. “Passengers will be able to make reservations, purchase tickets, pay through Sadad or credit cards, issue boarding passes, select seats on flights and keep the boarding pass in the PassBook using the new system. It will also provide them with information about flights and help preserve passenger information,” he explained.

The new service would help passengers save a lot of time and energy and enable them complete most of their travel procedures without visiting a travel agent or a sales office. The new service is available in both Arabic and English and passengers will be able to use Hijri dates for reservations.

“Passengers will be able to keep the booking inside their phones and retrieve them whenever required as well as to see previous bookings,” Al-Ajhar said. The program has the specialty of giving notifications and sharing booking details with friends.

The Saudia official said passengers traveling on the airline’s international flights would be able to avail themselves of the service in the next stage. It will also be linked with the airline’s Alfursan frequent travelers program.