JEDDAH: Director General of Saudi Arabian Airlines Saleh Al-Jasser said the airliner's ticket prices are still the lowest despite the SR30 increase in airfares.

Al-Jasser was speaking during a press conference held on the sidelines of the inauguration of the service by the Saudi Private Aviation affiliated with Saudia called “Al Bayraq.”

Commenting on the reduction of 50 percent on the airfares of students, he said the reduction was based on a historical basis when schools and universities were not available in every city in the Kingdom and students were forced to move between regions to get education. "Nowadays education is available in every region and city, and ticket prices are already low. Therefore, currently there is no need for any other arrangement."

He confirmed that people with special needs and military members in the south of the Kingdom will pay less than normal fare.

He said Saudia provides internal flight services with very low prices which do not even cover direct operational costs.

"The company puts a small increase on the price of the ticket every year, about SR1 to support the development of its fleet and the services offered to passengers," he added.

He said Saudia had won 1st place in world flight schedule discipline, adding that the company directs 70 percent of its capabilities to serve the internal transport sector.

"No doubt that the current demand is much more than the available seat capacity so it is in our plans to add 29 new planes in the next year. This is a big figure indeed, equal to the size of a new airliner. A number of these new planes will be allocated for internal flights. We aim, by the end of 2020, to fly 45 million passengers," he said.