Saudi Arabia aiming for tenfold increase in air transit traffic by 2030

Saudi Arabia is targeting a tenfold increase in international airline passengers transiting the kingdom by the end of the decade as it looks to triple annual passenger traffic, an official said. The government last year announced plans to become a global transportation and logistics hub by 2030 targeting passenger traffic of 330m a year, though few details have emerged. The strategy calls for 500b riyal ($133.32b) in investment and is part an economic policy to create jobs and wean the country off oil revenue. That policy, which has seen the government mandate that companies move their regional headquarters to the kingdom, puts Saudi Arabia in competition with neighbour the United Arab Emirates, where airline Emirates' main business model is transit traffic. Saudi Arabia's main aim is to increase the number of arrivals to the kingdom, said Mohammed Alkhuraisi, head of strategy at the General Authority of Civil Aviation. "We are not after the transit market," he said. The government wants direct international flights to rise to 250 for 99, in part to boost a nascent tourism sector but also to develop the kingdom into a major commercial centre. A tenfold increase would mean international transit traffic jumps to 30 million in 2030 from about 3m in 2019, or 10% of Saudi Arabia's annual passenger traffic, up from 3%.<br/>