President of the General Authority of Civil Aviation (GACA) Abdulaziz bin Abdullah Al-Duailej said that the contribution of the civil aviation and air transport sector to the Kingdom's GDP is expected to increase to more than SAR 280 billion by 2030, compared to about SAR 80 billion in 2018. This came during the main panel discussion at the first virtual employment exhibition of the Public Transport Authority Monday. He stressed that the objectives of the civil aviation sector strategy focus on making the civil aviation sector in the Kingdom the first in the Middle East by 2030. This is in addition to ranking the fifth globally in air connectivity for travelers by reaching more than 250 international destinations, compared to about 99 destinations in 2019. Al-Duailej said: "We aim for the number of passengers to reach 330 million annually, compared to 103 million passengers in 2019. The Authority also aims to be ranked first in air freight in the region via increasing the capacity to 4.5 million tons, compared to about 800,000 tons in 2019. He highlighted the importance of this vital sector in terms of providing many direct and indirect jobs by 2030. Al-Duailej referred to the launch of the 10,000 jobs initiative for localization, which recorded 50% 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 is 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 Aviation in various diploma programs at different airports in the Kingdom. Moreover, it provided more than 38,000 training seats for workers in the civil aviation system during the past five years.
