Saudia’s flights to Los Angeles: Families on cloud nine

Jeddah, Apr 2: Saudi scholarship students and other passengers are delighted as Saudi Arabian Airlines’ (Saudia) launched direct flights to Los Angeles.

“This is very good news,” said Abdelelah Saaty, dean of the College of Business in Rabigh, who is a regular traveler to the US and had obtained his master’s degree from the University of Southern California.

“Before launching this new Saudia flight, people had to fly first to Washington or New York to catch a seven-hour flight to Los Angeles,” Saaty told Arab News.

“Los Angeles is in the heart of California, which is a business center and the new flight will boost commercial relations between the two countries,” he said.

Los Angeles is the second largest US city after New York. More than 80,000 Saudi nationals are currently pursuing their higher studies in American universities and institutes.

Most of them live there with their families.

Abdul Aziz Al-Hazmi, CEO of Saudia, who launched the new flight, emphasized the airline’s plan to expand its operations worldwide.

He was accompanied by Abdullah Al-Ajhar, EVP public relations, and Walid Al-Oloumi, PR adviser.

Los Angeles is Saudia’s third destination in the US after New York and Washington,

Saudia will operate three flights weekly to Los Angeles on Saturdays, Thursdays and Mondays.

Saudia has deployed Boeing 777-300ER aircraft on this route.

The plane has 24 seats in the First Class, 36 in Business Class and 245 in the Economy Class.