Director General of Saudi Arabian Airlines (SAA) Dr Khaled bin Bakr told Arab News that a scientific study for the privatisation of SAA, prepared by a number of specialized international companies, is complete and will be presented to the Saudi Cabinet imminently.
Prince Sultan bin Abdul Aziz, the Second Deputy Premier and Minister of Defence and Aviation, and Chairman of the SAA board, signed agreements with a number of international consultancy agencies in October 2000 to prepare the privatisation program.
Dr bin Bakr said that Prince Sultan would open the Aviation Academy at SAA City tomorrow.
He described the academy, which is named after Prince Sultan, as one of the largest aviation training centres in the Middle East. Prince Sultan laid the foundation stone for the academy on 24 July 2002.
SAA, one of the world’s thirty top airline companies, now carries over 15 million passengers annually. SAA plans to lease fourteen aircraft this year to transport pilgrims from around the world.
Prince Sultan recently honoured SAA by commending the airline for its achievement of a new record number of passengers carried this summer.
SAA posted a 40% increase in revenues last year, the largest in its sixty-year history. Dr bin Bakr said that the airline achieved this remarkable record whilst many international airline companies posted losses worth $20 billion over the past years.
Source: SPA
