Last Friday, 11 Saudi aircraft took a journey back in time by flying on a route taken by King Abdul Aziz 116 years ago on camelback, when he returned to the country from Kuwait.

This journey is part of the Saudi National Day celebrations and has been dubbed The Trail of the Founder. It marks the many places that King Abdul Aziz stopped and the many hardships he experienced.

Head of the Arab Union for Air Sports, Mubarak Al-Suwailem, said the idea was first developed during a discussion with Prince Turki bin Abdullah on National Day preparations.

“We wanted to develop a new idea to celebrate this National Day, related to the efforts of King Abdul Aziz while establishing and unifying the Kingdom.”

“Prince Turki suggested the idea of a trip by air based on the founding journey, which would help revive the memory of the original trip taken by King Abdul Aziz with his companions,” he said.

He said the main goal of the trip was to remind young Saudis how difficult it was to establish the modern state, and to bring people together from different places and backgrounds to celebrate this unity.

He said teams were set up to trace the path correctly by traveling by air and land over the route. Then six places were marked out where the king faced the most difficulty, and where the planes would land.

Al-Suwailem said the plane began their flight path near the Kuwaiti border on Friday and stopped at the six locations before arriving in northern Riyadh on Saturday evening. The team met with officials at the different stops. The pilots experienced a few difficulties of their own because they landed in a few sandy and rugged areas along the route.

Ten small aircraft were selected to participate in the trip, each chosen based on quality, weight and speed. Twelve young Saudi pilots from various regions were involved, with the planes flying in formation led by a large aircraft.

Al-Suwailem said preparations began five months ago, and the decision was taken to fly on the weekend because of the less busy airspace.