The President of the General Authority of Civil Aviation (GACA), Abdulaziz Al-Duailej, said the contribution of the civil aviation and air transport sector to the Kingdom's GDP is expected to increase to more than SR280 billion by 2030. This in comparison to about SR80 billion in 2018. Al-Duailej made the remarks during the main panel discussion at the first virtual employment exhibition of the Public Transport Authority on Tuesday. He stressed that the main objective of the strategy is for the civil aviation sector in the Kingdom to be the first in the Middle East and the fifth globally in air connectivity by 2030. The Saudi air travel sector aims to expand to more than 250 international destinations before the target year from only 99 destinations in 2019. "We aim for the number of passengers to reach 330 million annually, compared to 103 million passengers in 2019." GACA also aims to be ranked first in air freight movement in the region by increasing the capacity to 4.5 million tons, from about 800,000 tons in the year 2019. He noted the importance of this vital sector in terms of creating many direct and indirect jobs by the year 2030. Al-Duailej pointed out the launch of the 10,000 jobs initiative for localization, which achieved 50 percent success by the end of 2021. The initiative covered various professions in airport operation and safety, fire and rescue, aviation security, and airport operation services. This in addition to qualifying and classifying 29 professions specialized in the field of air transport. He went on to draw attention to the 3,200 graduates of the Saudi Academy of Civil deployed at various airports in the Kingdom. Moreover, more than 38,000 seats were set aside for trainees in various jobs in the civil aviation system during the past five years.
