Manchester: Saudia Airlines News & Flight Discussion

[ethanegcc]

HZ-ARC is down for doing the honours of the inaugural Riyadh route tomorrow.

 

[ethanegcc]

HZ-ARC is down for doing the honours of the inaugural Riyadh route tomorrow.

 

[gonetech]

SV123 operating direct from Medina 12 & 13 Sep

Well presumably JED-MED-MAN

 

[Land23R]

I notice there was no Riyadh flight today and the SV web site shows only connections via Jeddah in October as far as far as I can tell.

Was it only intended to operate for a limited period, or is this a temporary cut during a quiet season?

 

[User001]

It was only ever on sale July-Sept.

 

[Land23R]

Ah, thanks. I'd forgotten that.

 

[ethanegcc]

It always baffled me whilst it was seasonal. It was one of only two seasonal routes Saudia operate and whilst I know it is the season which is busiest on Saudi routes, it would do well as a business route.

Whilst it operated, loads were consistently high and in some cases higher than Jeddah.

 

[ethanegcc]

Anyone know if Saudi will operate the MAN-RUH route next year again?

 

[User001]

They will.

 

[ethanegcc]

They will.

that's good to hear. The same operation or an expanded schedule perhaps?

 

[User001]

Expanded slightly I think as I looked at June in the internal systems and the flight was there. I didn’t check what date it did actually start though.

 

[User001]

B77W to be used on Saturday. Both Sat and Sun have economy sold out, and just 4 business class seats left on Sat and 3 on Sun.

It’s really been a great success story so far this flight. After their failed JED-RUH-GVA-MANvv attempt a few years ago, when they proposed a return with direct flights, I wasn’t that hopeful. But here we are with sold out flights 5 weekly most of the year, and daily flights split between RUH, MED and JED in the summer.

 

[Dobbo]

It's great to see the ties between the Middle East and north of England grow, much of which is caused by these direct air routes.

A pattern that hopefully repeats itself with other parts of the world in the future.

 

[Scottie Dog]

I understand Riyadh for this summer is now a non-starter.

I wait to be corrected.

 

[ethanegcc]

Disappointingly, it now appears the slots have been receded for the RUH-MAN flights this summer, retaining just the 5x weekly JED-MAN. Annoying as loads were good and it provided a link to the KSA capital but nevertheless, shouldn't moan!

 

[David_itl]

Noticed they've tweaked timings since the beginning of March. Now arrives 11.45am and departs 3.15pm

 

[ethanegcc]

Interestingly so far this is only scheduled for March - not beyond he start of the summer schedule.

Also, these new timings bring the flight in line with the majority of Saudia's European services - especially the majority of JED/RUH-LHR flights.

 

[David_itl]

2 class 777s 18th Dec to 13th Jan per airlineroute
https://twitter.com/Airlineroute/status/975624696979845120

 

[ethanegcc]

This adds some significant capacity to the route over the winter period. One wonders if any sort of 777 operation is lined up for the increased demand in August - considering the Riyadh route will not be resuming.

 

[ethanegcc]

Interesting to note that the timings have now reverted to the tweaked arrival/departure. Arriving from JED at around 1145 and departing at approx. 1615 at the moment.

777-300ER ops also still scheduled for the winter period.