Emirates plans Saudi flights boom for Ramadan

 Emirates Airline has announced plans to add a total of 73 additional flights to and from Saudi Arabia during Ramadan.

Jeddah and Medinah Al Munawarrah will benefit from the extra services, put in place to serve the large number of passengers travelling to the Kingdom for religious based travel.

The extra services will be in operation from July 20 to September 1, the Dubai carrier said in a statement.

Ahmed Khoory, senior vice president, Commercial Operations Gulf, Middle East and Iran, said; “We expect travel to the kingdom to increase significantly during the holy month of Ramadan in line with the annual movement of pilgrims.

"To effectively cater to this increased demand we have added extra services giving our passengers more flight options and easing the flow of traffic."

A total of 59 additional flights will operate to and from Jeddah throughout Ramadan, with Medinah Al Munawarrah receiving 14 extra services during the same time period.

“There is a high demand for travel to the Kingdom from across our network given our convenient and frequent flight options. With a growing fleet of 175 aircraft we are fortunate to have the flexibility required to adjust our schedules and accommodate this increased traffic flow,” added Khoory.

The additional flights will be serviced by a mixture of Boeing 777s and A330 aircraft, in a three class configuration.

Emirates currently operates to four gateways in Saudi Arabia including; Jeddah, Riyadh, Dammam and Medinah al Munawarah.

Emirates said it has received permission from the Saudi Authorities to operate these flights for Umrah passengers.