RIYADH, 15 May 2008 — Sama Airlines, the newest low-fare carrier in Saudi Arabia, announced that it has flown one million passengers since it’s launch on March 18, 2007, making a historic record for itself. “Moreover, bookings have increased by 100 percent over the last four months with more than 500,000 bookings being made alone through the Sama website,” said Andrew Cowen, Sama chief executive officer here yesterday.
Cowen said: “We are pleased to announce that Sama Airlines exceeded one million passenger bookings, which is a new record for Sama.” The Sama chief was speaking on the occasion of a graduation ceremony organized by the airline for its employees. The event was also attended by Dr Saeed Ibn Namchah, director of support services at King Fahd International Airport (KFIA) and Abdulmohsen Al-Sheikh, director of operations and rescue services.
Mark Breen, Sama’s chief operating officer, Mustafa Yousef, Sama’s director of airports and customer services, and a number of senior officials from Sama as well as executives of aviation industry also attended the ceremony. The occasion also marked a new beginning for Sama this year, during which this airline expanded its destinations to 13 on domestic routes and nine on international sector.
Referring to the induction of new trained Saudi staff into Sama workforce, Cowen said: “We are proud to celebrate the graduation of our new team of flight attendants, guest services, and captains. This demonstrates Sama’s commitment to the aviation sector in Saudi Arabia and the Middle East.”
“Sama has invested heavily in creating new job opportunities and in training high quality professionals to develop this sector,” he added.
He pointed out that Sama was continuing training and graduating new qualified people to the highest standards.
“It is a key element of our strategy to expand regionally to become the leading low fare carrier in the Kingdom and Middle East” said Mark Breen, SAMA chief operating officer.
He said that Sama currently flies to 13 domestic destinations, namely Dammam, Riyadh, Jeddah, Madinah, Abha, Jizan, Hail, Arar, Jouf, Tabouk, Rafha, and Bisha.
Its international destinations across include Abu Dhabi, Sharjah, Amman, Damascus, Latakia, Aleppo, Beirut, Alexandria, Asiut and Sharm El-Sheikh.
Sama is the newest low-fare carrier in Saudi Arabia. Founded by Investment Enterprises Ltd, chaired by Prince Bandar Ibn Khalid Al-Faisal with 30 major Saudi private and institutional investors, Sama has six Boeing 737-300 aircraft as well as a Jetstream for the operation of national and international services.
