Dubai: Saudi Arabia’s budget airline flynas has announced massive expansion plan with more flights to the UAE.
Speaking at the Arabian Travel Market (ATM), 2024, which opens in Dubai on Monday, Bander Almohanna, Managing Director and CEO of flynas, said the airline will increase the number of routes between Saudi Arabia and the UAE to nine, and flight frequencies have increased to more than 20 daily flights
Effective September 2024, flynas will add Abu Dhabi, Sharjah and Al Maktoum Airport (DWC) to its network operated from flynas’ main bases in Riyadh, Jeddah, Dammam, and Madinah, he said.
“We have doubled our fleet size in less than two years to keep up with our growth and cater to the growing low-cost travel market in the region. This aligns with our growth and expansion plans and Saudi Arabia’s National Civil Aviation Strategy,” he added.
250 international destinations
The national strategy enables Saudi-based air carriers to connect KSA with 250 international destinations, accommodate 330 million passengers, and host 100 million tourists annually by 2030, Gulf News reported.
With the latest expansion plans, the UAE market will be served with flights from the four flynas operation bases around the Kingdom. The airline operates flights to Dubai International Airport from Riyadh, Jeddah, Dammam, and Madinah.
Flights from Al Maktoum Airport
The low-cost carrier will add flights to Al Maktoum International Airport in Dubai from King Khalid International Airport (RUH) in Riyadh, to Shaikh Zayed International Airport in Abu Dhabi from King Abdulaziz International Airport in Jeddah (JED) and Prince Mohammad bin Abdulaziz International Airport (MED) in Madinah, as well as to Sharjah International Airport from both Jeddah and Madinah.
flynas connects more than 70 domestic and international destinations with more than 1500 weekly flights and has flown more than 78 million passengers since its launch in 2007, with the aim to reach 165 domestic and international destinations, in line with the objectives of the Saudi Vision 2030.
flynas success
The success of flynas was recognised with many international awards, including Skytrax International Award as the 4th Best LCC worldwide and the Best Low-cost Airline in the Middle East in 2023 for the sixth time in a row. Meanwhile, flynas won the Leading Low-cost Airline Award in the Middle East from the World Travel Awards in 2023 for the ninth year in a row.