GACA officials receive passengers on the first Nile Air flight to King Abdul Aziz International Airport (KAAIA) in Jeddah. (Courtesy photo) JEDDAH: With 140 passengers on board, the first Nile Air flight arrived here Sunday morning after the General Authority of Civil Aviation (GACA) had granted the right to operate three weekly flights between the Egyptian city of Alexandria and Jeddah. “The three flights of Nile Air are scheduled to be on Sundays, Wednesdays and Fridays,” said Khaled Al-Khaibari, spokesman for GACA, and adding that the step comes in the framework of GACA's policy to allow more airline companies operate to and from Saudi airports. The move will increase the number of passengers between the two countries. It is also hoped to enhance tourism and economic sectors in both the nations. He added that the step will open doors for not only fair competitiveness, which will finally go in favor of passengers, but also create new job opportunities and facilitate trade and travel between Saudi Arabia and Egypt. For his part, Yusuf Qassim, Sales Manager at Nile Air expressed his appreciation to GACA for the numerous facilitations it has offered to his company to run flights from and to Saudi Arabia. He revealed the Nile Air is planning to increase the number of its Saudi destinations. He added that their aim is to consolidate the ties of this unique relationship between the peoples of the two countries. “Jeddah is an important destination to us as it is the gate to the Islam's two holy places Makkah and Madina – the two points that the Egyptians are keen to visit during Haj and Umrah seasons.” It is noteworthy that GACA had earlier given Nile Air the right to operate flights between Cairo Airport and both Prince Abdul-Mohsen Bin Abdul Aziz Airport in Yanbu and Al-Qassim Airport. It has also allowed a number of air carriers to operate flights from international and other domestic airports. Some of these companies are RAK Airways (four weekly flights to King Abdul Aziz International Airport-KAAIA), the Jordanian Royal Falcon airlines, the Turkish Atlasjet and the Almasria Universal Airlines.
