British Airways begins daily flights from Saudi Arabia in winter

Dubai, UAE 20 July, 2011: Due to strong, ever-increasing demand, British Airways’ winter schedule has been further revised to include daily flights from Riyadh instead of the six it had earlier announced. And with its five services a week from Jeddah, British Airways will operate a total of 12 flights between the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and London Heathrow by end October.

The Riyadh service will be served using a Boeing 777 offering a choice of four cabins that includes the award winning Club World (business class) and the airlines flagship cabin, First.

Paolo De Renzis, Regional Commercial Manager Middle East said: “We are absolutely delighted with the demand from the Saudi Arabian market h since we resumed flights two years ago. Our two Kingdom’s share a great affinity and passengers are travelling for a wide variety of reasons from tourism to business to education.

“In response to this continuously growing demand, we quickly realized that the additional one flight a week from Riyadh, announced just over a month ago, wasn’t going to be sufficient. So, instead of adding one flight, we’ve decided to increase it to two, resulting in a daily service throughout the week from Riyadh beginning in end-October this year.

“Thins move  is re-affirmation of our long-term commitment of serving our loyal customers in the Kingdom and reinforcing the brand as the preferred carrier of choice for travel into the UK or for transiting to other destinations in the extensive British Airways network.”
Ends

·    The airlines winter schedule starts at the end of October
·    In the airlines winter schedule the flight departs from Riyadh daily at 07:40 local time and arrives at London Heathrow at 12:25 local time
·    The flight departs from Jeddah on Monday, Wednesday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday at 09:10 local time and arrives at London Heathrow at 14:00 local time
·    A 4-class Boeing 777 will operate the daily Riyadh service.
·    A 3-class Boeing 767 will operate the five times a week Jeddah services.

About British Airways:
·    British Airways has a worldwide route network that covers more than 150 destinations in 75 countries.
·    The airline is one of the world's largest international airlines carrying approximately 36 million passengers around the world every year.
·    Next year (2012) will mark our 80th anniversary of flying to the Middle East.
·    British Airways operates 59 weekly flights from eight GCC markets to London Heathrow.
·    In the summer 2011 schedule the airline operates five weekly flights from Riyadh and Jeddah to London Heathrow. 
·    British Airways’ transatlantic joint business with American Airlines and Iberia offers customers more destinations, better schedules and greater access to cheaper fares.
·    The airline is investing in new aircraft, new cabins, new technology and new routes.
·    British Airways’ operate from Terminal 5, it’s exclusive new home at London Heathrow.  This terminal is capable of handling 30 million customers a year and is the size of 50 football pitches.
·    More than 90% of British Airways flights operate through Terminal 5 that handles over 500 flights a day.
·    British Airways was the first commercial airline to introduce a fully flat bed in First class in 1996. The airline then went on to pioneer fully flat beds in business class (Club World) in 2000.