JEDDAH – Qatar Airways, Bahrain Air and Gulf Air are among the firms in pre-qualified consortia bidding for a new airline license in Saudi Arabia, an official from the General Authority for Civil Aviation (GACA) with knowledge of the matter told Reuters Saturday. The list of the seven pre-qualified consortia also includes Chinese firm HNA, The Islamic Development Bank (IDB), Nesma Holding, and Falcon Express. This month GACA said 14 companies had applied for licenses to operate domestic and international flights in the country, seven of which have been short-listed. – Reuters
