As airlines grapple with the economic downturn, Saudi Arabian Airlines (SAA) passengers have become able to cash in, on what one industry insider described as a “savage price war,” with international discounted fares by 30 to 50 percent, effective immediately. The fare cut has come in the wake of a big drop in air travel demand in the region starting in 2009, the informed insider said. An SAA official said, however, the discounted fares have come as a result of several positive and important indicators in the industry including cancellation of the SR19 ($5) war hazards tax on one-way tickets and SR38 ($10) for return tickets. Abdullah Mushbib Al-Ajhar, Assistant Director General of Public Relations at SAA, added that the cancellation of fuel surcharges at international airports ranging from SR169 to SR225 ($45- 60) for one-way ticket and between SR338 and SR450 ($90-120) for a return ticket was also a factor in slashing the air fares on Saudia international flights. SAA offices and travel agencies have been instructed to apply the new discounted fares on SAA immediately, he said. SAA has started offering promotional fares from the Kingdom to different European destinations starting from SR900 without taxes. Some Arab destinations like Cairo and Dubai have also been placed on the promotional stand with flights from Riyadh to Cairo and Alexandria starting at SR1,400 and SR1,150 from Jeddah and SR850 from Dammam. Promotional fares between the Kingdom and Dubai have also been set at SR750 from Riyadh, SR1,000 from Jeddah, and SR550 from Dammam. Fares from Riyadh to Amman have been set at SR800 and SR700 from Jeddah. Travelers planning to fly with SAA to New York or Washington from international airports in the Kingdom will have to pay only SR2,500. The airlines, he said, is providing promotional fares between the Kingdom and Kuala Lumpur at SR2,000 from Riyadh and Dammam, and SR2,500 from Jeddah. The flight between Riyadh, Jeddah and Dammam and Hong Kong is slashed to only SR2,500, he said. He said to encourage Saudi scholarship students to spend their vacations with their families in the Kingdom, SAA is providing special fares of SR2,600 from New York and Washington, SR2,400 from Paris and SR1,790 from Frankfurt, Munich and Vienna. He said these promotional fares come within the social role of SAA and due to its keenness to bring family members together with their sons studying abroad as well as due to marketing considerations and to face the competition in the industry.
