SAUDIA NAMED ‘WORLD’S MOST IMPROVED AIRLINE’

Skytrax Annual Airline Awards Ceremony Took Place At Le Bourget on the Second Day of the Paris Air Show

SAUDIA was presented with the prestigious award for ‘Most Improved Airline’ at the Skytrax 2017 World Airline Awards ceremony on June 20th, which took place at the Musee de l’Air et de l’Espace at Le Bourget airport in Paris, France.

The annual awards ranks global airlines across multiple categories and recognizes excellence across a variety of factors.

The airline that achieves the highest upward rating improvement across the different survey categories is named the Most Improved Airline.

In the main survey, SAUDIA moved close to the top-50 airlines (51st) and the airline was placed 5th in the Middle East staff service category.

The SAUDIA fleet has been subject to much change and upgrade over the last 12-months with new B777, B787 and A330 aircraft offering renewed product across all cabins.

SAUDIA’s global ranking now stands at 51 worldwide, an improvement of 40% in a single year (the airline was ranked 82 and 84 in 2016 and 2015 respectively).

At the Skytrax ceremony to receive the award was Saudi Arabian Airlines Director General, His Excellency Engineer Saleh bin Nasser Al-Jasser: “It is an honor to be here to receive this award on behalf of the entire Saudia team who have demonstrated exceptional commitment to build on SAUDIA’s strong aviation history as one of the founding air transport carriers in the Middle East. I would also like to express Saudia’s deep appreciation and gratitude to The Custodian Of The Two Holy Mosques, king Salman bin Abdulaziz, Crown Prince and Deputy Crown Prince for their continuous support to Saudia the kingdom’s flag carrier. I also congratulate Saudia’s Chairman Dr. Ghassan Alshibl and the rest of the Board of Directors on this achievement.”

Continued Al-Jasser: “As part of the airlines SV2020 Strategy & Transformation Plan, SAUDIA has invested in new aircraft, product innovation and service enhancements with a single purpose – to provide all of our guests with the highest level of hospitality and comfort in the skies.”

Previously, SAUDIA was awarded ‘World’s Best Economy Class Seat’, along with ‘World’s Best First Class Amenity Kit’ at the 2014 Skytrax World Airline Awards. In that same year, Skytrax upgraded SAUDIA’s rating from a Three-star to a Four-Star carrier.

Commenting on the award, Edward Plaisted, CEO of Skytrax said: "SAUDIA had an extremely good year in the 2017 awards survey and improved its global standing across several different survey areas. Whether First, Business or Economy Class, passengers clearly saw tangible upgrades to the product and service quality, and staff at SAUDIA should be very proud of this fantastic achievement."

Enhancing the guest experience onboard has been a dedicated focus for the airline since the launch of its ‘SV 2020 Transformation Plan’ in 2015. Of the most notable improvements at SAUDIA is the airline’s onboard product. Winning several awards at major aviation industry events since the start of this year, the airline has also been recognized for its children’s kit; First Class and Female Business Class amenities; catering, inflight entertainment and connectivity.

Within the last 12 months, SAUDIA has introduced a range of new products and enhanced existing features, modernizing the guest experience.

The signature Chef-on-board a la carte dining service; improved broadband internet connectivity and a new entertainment platform were also introduced. Last month the program hours were increased by 50%, taking it up to 1800 hours of entertainment.

Last August the airline was the Global Launch Customer and Operator of the Airbus 330-300 Regional, and in November introduced the ‘First Suite’ premium seat design with enclosed cabin spaces onboard the carrier’s new Boeing 777-300s. SAUDIA also counts the Boeing 787 Dreamliner in its fleet.

SAUDIA provides world-class service with a distinctive focus on hospitality and values. The airline’s has a multinational cabin crew comprised of over 30 nationalities.

Operating out of its two hubs in Jeddah and Riyadh, the airline flies a mixed fleet of narrow and widebody Airbus and Boeing aircraft. By the end of this year, the average age of the SAUDIA fleet will be 3.75 years. Currently at 136, the fleet is set to reach 200 aircraft by 2020.

With the airline’s strategic geographic location and the incremental growth of business and religious tourism to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, the national carrier is aligned with the nation’s Vision 2030 and is growing in size to welcome double-digit growth in the amount of guests travelling across its network.

SAUDIA flies to 87 destinations worldwide, including major business and leisure cities across four continents. The airline is regularly introducing new routes; recently launched destinations include: Munich, Ankara, Maldives, Algiers, Multan and Portsudan. The holiday island of Mauritius has been announced and will be commencing soon.

In 2016, 30 million passengers flew with SAUDIA. In April 2017, SAUDIA achieved record passenger numbers, flying more than 2.9 million passengers in a single month.

For the 2017 World Airline Awards, 19.87 million eligible survey entries were counted in the final results, and 105 nationalities participated in the survey from August 2016 to May 2017 (surveys in English, Spanish and Chinese). The survey covers over 325 airlines, from largest international airlines to smaller domestic carriers, measuring Quality standards for 41 KPI’s across front-line product and service factors in the Airport and Onboard environments.