JEDDAH, 28 October 2007 — Saudi Arabian General Authority of Civil Aviation (GACA) is likely to welcome domestic private airlines to operate chartered plane service by next month.
The need for chartered planes has been felt increasingly in recent times particularly at the end of the Ramadan and Umrah seasons with thousands of international passengers stranded in the King Abdul Aziz Airport (KAAIA) following the obvious failure of several foreign airlines companies to return the Umrah passengers.
However, GACA needs more time before it allows the private sector to enter so that it can study in detail the international experience in this field and take required measures to guarantee maximum safety, Abdullah Rumaihy, president of GACA said on an earlier occasion.
“GACA insists on the highest international standards in matters related to safety particularly in line with the International Aviation Safety Assessments Program,” Rumaihy had said.
Five Saudi companies have already approached GACA expressing their willingness to invest in the chartered flight service, according to a reliable source in GACA.
It will start sorting out the applications only after making the official announcement regarding its plan to open the service for private participation, business daily Al-Eqtisadiah reported yesterday.
Since last year GACA has been bringing about various reforms with the aim of privatizing air traffic services and airport development. Operation licenses have been issued to several domestic air transport companies. GACA has also invited international tenders for the running of the country’s international airports and the development and operation of the lounges at the Haj terminal at KAAIA.
The prospects of investment in the chartered flight sector is promising in the Kingdom particularly during Umrah and Haj seasons when the number of passengers to and from the Kingdom shoot up beyond the capacity of scheduled flights. More than SR1.5 billion is required as annual investment in this sector.
The source, however, ruled out that the application for the licenses for chartered services would be accepted only after next month’s finalization of the tender for airport operations. Dutch, French, Turkish and Singapore companies are competing for the airport contracts.
GACA invited suggestions from the public on chartered flight services for transporting passengers and cargo in an apparent bid to attract more public participation in government decisions related to privatization. However the response did not rise up to the desired level. The poor response was attributed to technical reasons.
The government aims to make the civil aviation industry self-sufficient instead of depending on government funding.
GACA hopes that the air traffic in the Kingdom would grow by eight percent with encouraging figures from the King Abdul Aziz International Airport showing that it handled 15 million passengers last year alone, while the King Khaled International Airport in Riyadh had 11 million passengers and King Fahd International Airport in Dammam had 3.5 million passengers in the same period.
