RIYADH: The General Authority for Civil Aviation (GACA) said that the number of passengers and flights at the Kingdom’s domestic and international airports have increased since June this year.

GACA President Sulaiman bin Abdullah Al-Hamdan said that the number of domestic passengers totaled 6.6 million, an increase of 11.8 percent from 5.9 million during the same period in 2014.

He added that the number of passengers on international flights increased to 1.3 million, an increase of 17.9 percent compared to the same period in 2014.

He said that the number of passengers traveling on charter flights totaled 237,273, up 19.8 percent from 180,028 during the same period in 2014.

The number of flights totaled 60,085, a 9.1 percent increase over the same period last year.

He said that because of the increasing demand for travel, Nile Air has been given a permit to operate two flights weekly between Cairo and Al-Jouf, and flights will start Aug. 20 with four flights operating weekly between Tabuk and Sharjah.

There are also new international flights to Prince Sultan Airport in Tabuk, and Al-Jouf Airport.

Al Hamdan noted that the number of international airlines operating at the airport in Al-Jouf has increased to four — Nasma Air, Arabian Airlines, Fly Dubai and Nile Air.

He stressed that the licensing of companies is in accordance with the strategy to attract new airlines to various regional and domestic airports.

He added that GACA also aims to provide new international destinations from various regions in the Kingdom in the future.

He also said that GACA seeks to license companies wishing to work in the local aviation industry and will extend all necessary support.

He added that GACA will also provide them with all the facilities required and will work with them to overcome any difficulties they may encounter.

He said that GACA seeks to achieve a qualitative leap in the level of services provided in all domestic and international airports.