Saudi Arabian Airlines released a statement declaring the coming changes it will be making to all its aircraft incrementally over the next few months. Passenger comfort will be improved with several new additions. “We have replaced first class seats with newer more comfortable ones. The new seats are more comfortable, lighter and covered in a soft-coated fabric,” said Abdullah Al-Ajhar, Public Relations Assistant at Saudi Arabian Airlines. The electronic entertainment systems will also be changed on the company's aircraft. “The newer system will be more sophisticated and user-friendly. The new system will feature an on demand service where passengers can view all audio and video programs whenever they want. The seats will also be equipped with USB ports and charging ports for laptop charging,” Al-Ajhar said. “Every seat will have a 15.4 inch monitor.” Starting in October Saudi Arabian Airlines will begin making changes to the planes allowing passengers to use their mobile phones while the aircraft is in flight. One aircraft will be altered every month. “Making such extensive changes to each individul seat will take a long time. The system is very complex and we will be using it after we've made the changes one by one,” Al-Ajhar said. Saudi Arabian Airlines has signed several technical contracts with foreign airline companies for the technical servicing of its aircraft. “Our Saudi workshop will be responsible for developing stations in several countries as well as test the small equipments in the Saudi airlines workshop at Jeddah.” Several organizations located in Jeddah specialize in the repair and testing of aircraft components such as Al-Salaam aircraft, Arabasco, and the Saudi Geographical Commission. All these organizations will contribute to the testing of 1,070 aircraft components. “It is our duty to develop the airlines as well as the airplane industry, in order to be on par with the international companies. With the cooperation of other companies in the Middle East we will exchanging services as well as cultures,” Al-Ajhar said. “Our main aim is passenger safety as well as their comfort that is why we have started many improvement projects for most of our planes,” Al-Ajhar said. Al-Ajhar said the US Federal Aviation Authority (FAA) requested Saudi Airlines to install observation cameras outside the door to the pilot cabin on all Boeing 747, 777 and MD 90. “We have installed the system on 22 Boeing 777's, on 26 MD 90's, and all Boeing 468-747 aircraft,” he said. A new monitoring system known as Aircraft Communication Addressing and Reporting System is a system which monitors the different operations of the aircraft and transmits them between the aircaft and ground monitoring stations. The new system is being tested on two Saudi Airlines Boeing 468-747 aircraft and if the new system is a success, Al-Ajhar said it will be installed on all their aircraft. An additional system required by the European Organization for safety will be installed on planes built after 2003. The additional system sends additional information to monitoring stations on the ground and monitors if the plane is operating within safe parameters. Al-Ajhar said all of the Saudi Airlines aircraft would be modified except the Imperial 170's. The new cooperation deals will involve different airlines operating in different regions. __
