Kuwaiti low-cost airline Jazeera Airways wants to establish a subsidiary in Saudi Arabia, which will be based in Dammam. The Board of Directors approved the plan during a meeting on March 12, the airline says in a key information disclosure.
Saudi Arabia has been on Jazeera’s radar for some time. The carrier serves eight cities and offers sixty flights a week. It added Abha, Hail, Qassim, and Taif to the network. “This will serve the growing number of visitors that travel to Saudi Arabia for religious pilgrimage, leisure trips or festivals as well as to meet family,” the airline says in its 2022 annual report that was released on Tuesday.
Details of the Saudi subsidiary are scarce, but reportedly Jazeera will cooperate with local partners to establish the airline. Once the plan and operating licensing procedures have been finalized, Jazeera will determine the financial impact.
The new initiative mirrors that of Wizz Air, which is also working with Saudi partners to establish a new subsidiary. In May last year, Wizz signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the Saudi Ministry of Investment.
The Board decision was made on the same day that the Saudi Public Investment Fund (PIF) launched a second national airline, Riyadh Air. Saudi Arabia seems to become a major focal point in the coming years, with fierce competition to be expected between the two national Saudi carriers and a raft of low-cost airlines.
