JEDDAH, Sep 2 ( Arab News): Saudi Arabian Airlines will increase the number of domestic and international flights as part of a strategic plan to improve services, achieve passenger satisfaction and meet competition, its Director General Khaled Al-Molhem said.

“We have already started implementing the first phase of the strategy at the beginning of this year by operating direct flights to some destinations, increasing flights between Jeddah and Riyadh and operating more flights to European cities,” he said.

Al-Molhem said the national carrier had begun bearing fruit of the strategic plan as the number of passengers it transported between the Kingdom and Europe rose by 20 percent to 168,300 in the first half of 2010 compared to the same period last year.

The plan’s second phase, which begins on Nov. 1, 2010 would witness unprecedented progress in operations between major Saudi cities. It will operate seven flights between Riyadh and Dammam daily, instead of five, reducing the gap between flights to two and a half hours.

“The number of daily flights between Jeddah and Dammam will be increased to eight on both sides, reducing the gap to two hours,” the director general said, adding that flights from the southern resort city of Abha to major Saudi cities would be increased from 103 to 124 flights weekly.

There will be 49 flights from Jeddah to Abha with seven flights daily while the number of flights between Riyadh and Abha will be increased to 56 with eight flights daily. Flights from Dammam to Abha will be increased from seven to 11 to meet growing demand.

The increase in flights comes after Saudia bought 82 new Airbus and Boeing aircraft. It has already received 23 Airbus planes including 20 A320s and A330s from the French manufacturer. The new planes have started operating flights to domestic and international destinations.

Al-Molehm said flights between Jazan and other major cities would be increased from 52 to 67 weekly including 27 from Jeddah, 23 from Riyadh and seven from Dammam. Tabuk will have 23 flights from Jeddah and 22 from Riyadh weekly while Hail will have 16 flights from Jeddah and 14 from Riyadh. Baha will receive nine flights from Jeddah and 11 from Riyadh.

The Saudia chief emphasized the airline’s strategy to increase flights to Middle Eastern and Gulf destinations. Flights to Beirut will be increased from 11 to 17, Bahrain nine to 14, Doha six to 10, Amman 10 to 12, Sanaa five to nine and Aden from two to three weekly.

“During the strategic plan’s third phase that begins on March 27, 2011, passengers will enjoy substantial improvement in our services to East Asia. We’ll replace Boeing 747-300s with Boeing 777s,” he said.

Al-Molhem said Saudia has been operating 12,414 scheduled and additional flights to transport 2.19 million passengers during Ramadan. It has allocated 4,071 flights with 931,867 seats to King Abdulaziz International Airport in Jeddah and Prince Muhammad International Airport in Madinah.