Saudia is the Middle East’s largest airline this summer. It has overtaken Emirates and Qatar Airways, mainly thanks to its big domestic network that is still robust despite coronavirus. Saudia now has 158 aircraft, of which 103 are widebodies and 55 are narrowbodies.
Saudia is now the Middle East’s top airline
While Emirates and Qatar Airways hog the limelight because of their enormous hub-and-spoke networks and well-promoted hard products, Saudia is the Middle East’s largest airline this summer. This is based on analyzing planned seat capacity for every airline in the region based on schedules supplied by the carriers to OAG. The top-10 are shown below.
- Saudia: 20.36 million round-trip seats this summer
- Emirates: 19.88 million
- Qatar Airways: 18.69 million
- Etihad Airways: 7.26 million
- Flydubai 6.41 million
- Flynas: 4.56 million
- Turkish Airlines: 4.07 million
- Air Arabia: 3.98 million
- Oman Air: 3.21 million
- Mahan Air: 3.14 million
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Up from third
Despite a travel ban from 20 countries, Saudia has risen from third place in summer 2019 (S19) to first because of overtaking Emirates (which was top and is now second) and Qatar Airways (second and now third).
This was helped by much bigger cuts at the UAE and Qatar carriers: Emirates is down by 52% while it’s 33% for Qatar Airways. In contrast, Saudia has reduced by ‘just’ 26%.
Saudia’s pole position is all about its large domestic network – something that others don’t have. And it remains relatively strong, down as it is by a mere 7%. Indeed, the carrier’s expansive domestic operation means it is also the Middle East’s top airline by total flights, although it slips to third if available seat miles are considered. This makes…