DAMMAM, 15 March 2007 — Sama airline announced yesterday the streamlining of reservation, departure and arrival procedures to bring them in line with the company slogan “Simply Fly”.
Celebrating its inaugural flight yesterday at King Fahd International Airport here, Prince Bandar bin Khalid Al-Faisal, chairman of the board of directors of Sama, said “we believe that facilitating travel is a way to facilitate life for citizens and residents of Saudi Arabia.”
To facilitate traveling procedures, Sama announced a new reservation and payment program that enables travelers to book a seat and pay through ATM or bank tellers, in addition to reservation through website, Sama selling centers and travel agents around the country.
In a speech, Bandar said that “we are working hard to provide an excellent service with value pricing to be affordable to all travelers.”
Underscoring Sama’s social responsibility, he announced a new destination to its flight schedules with the inclusion of Qurayat and an additional aircraft to its fleet, in response to numerous requests of residents in the Northern Province. Sama currently holds a fleet of three Boeing 737 aircraft, each with a capacity of 148 passengers.
Sama plans to increase the fleet to 8 aircraft by the end of 2007 and to 35 aircraft within the next five years. Initially, Sama will operate to five main destinations (Dammam, Riyadh, Jeddah, Madinah and Gizan) on a schedule of 32 flights a week. It also opened a new retail center on King Fahd Road between Dammam and AlKhobar.
Under the patronage of Prince Jalawi Bin Abdul-Aziz Bin Musa’ed, deputy governor of the Eastern Province, Sama hosted a launch party for the occasion, attended by Eng. Abdullah Al-Ruhaimi, president of the General Authority of Civil Aviation and Eng. Khalid Al-Mezaal, general manager of King Fahad International Airport (Dammam), high ranking officials of the Eastern Region and Saudi Arabian General authority of Civil Aviation, as well as a number of businessmen and media representatives.
