Saudi Airlines supported its air fleet with 25 new airplanes from the latest Airbus and Boeing, including 21 wide-body airplanes, Saleh Al-Jasser, General Manager of Saudi Airlines, emphasized that this step comes in an effort to provide the necessary seating capacity to keep pace with the steady increase in travel traffic and enhance the role of “Saudi Arabia” in serving the growing travel traffic, especially on the domestic sector, which constitutes two-thirds of the volume of operations and flights to serve this sector, with operational rates recorded last year 2015 nearly two hundred thousand flights, carrying more than 17 million guests to and from 27 domestic airports.

Airbus said the new A330-300 “Regional” is designed for short and medium-haul flights of up to 2,700 nautical miles (equivalent to 5 hours of flight time), resulting in significant cost savings through a reduced operating weight of 200 tons. Reduced fuel burn per seat and maintenance costs will result in lower overall cost of operation.