Saudi private jet industry stalls after corruption crackdown

A crackdown on corruption in Saudi Arabia has severely dented the kingdom’s private jet industry in a sign of the impact the campaign has had on private enterprise and the wealthy elite. Dozens of planes, owned by individuals and charter companies and worth hundreds of millions of dollars, are stranded at airports across the kingdom including Riyadh and Jeddah, four people familiar with the matter said. Some were handed over to the state in settlements reached after the crackdown was launched in late 2017, when dozens of princes, businessmen and government officials were detained, they said. Others belong to Saudis who either face travel bans or are reluctant to fly the planes because they are wary of displays of wealth that might be seen as taunting the government over the anti-corruption campaign, two of the sources said. The idle aircraft, which one of the sources estimated at up to about 70, include Bombardier and Gulfstream jets, the sources said. There are also larger Airbus and Boeing aircraft that are more commonly associated with commercial airlines but are often used in the Middle East as private jets. The number of registered private jets in Saudi Arabia stood at 129 as of December 2018 compared with 136 a year earlier, according to FlightAscend Consultancy data.<br/>