Fatima Muhammad Saudi Gazette The Kingdom on Thursday further broadened its air space with the General Authority of Civil Aviation (GACA) allowing Nile Air to operate flights from Kingdom's Al-Jouf airport to Cairo. Similarly, permission has been given to AirArabia to operate flights between Prince Sultan airport in Tabuk and Sharjah. From Friday, Nile Air will start twice a week flights while from Aug. 20 onwards AirArabia will start operating with four weekly flights to Sharjah. The new arrangements at Al-Jouf airport will increase the number of international carriers operating from here to four. Earlier operators include Nasma, FlyDubai, and AirArabia. International flights from Tabuk airport will now become six. The existing international operators are FlyDubai, Nasma, Al-Masria Universal, Nail Air and Royal Jordanian. Sulaiman Al-Hamdan, president of GACA, said the addition of these new international flights comes as part of the strategic plans to attract new carriers to operate in the Kingdom. He said GACA is working toward transforming airports to make them comply with international specifications. It will also help create new local-international destinations. GACA is to continue providing licenses to companies willing to operate in the Kingdom, Al-Hamdan said. He said GACA will ease the process for the new carriers and will work hand in hand with them to overcome any difficulties they might encounter. Al-Hamdan added that GACA was keen to create a shift in the qualities provided at the local and international airports. The goal is to provide economically valuable airports and better services. According to GACA figures, domestic airports in the Kingdom have marked an increase in the number of their passengers. The number stands at 6.5 million till July 2015; an increase of 11.8% than the same period last year. International passengers have also increased by 28.8% exceeding 1.3 million compared to 1.06 million last year. Domestic flights carried 5 million passengers with an increase of 7.8% compared to the same period of 2014.
