Saudia is an airline on the move, guided by a transformative ambition to increase its fleet, expand its network and open the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia to the world as part of the Vision 2030 project.
Founded as Saudi Arabian Airlines in 1945, Saudia now operates a fleet of over 140 aircraft and has built a network covering more than 100 destinations across four continents.
In the first six months of 2025, the Saudi Arabian flag carrier carried more than 17.5 million passengers, marking a 7.2% increase compared to the same period in 2024.
At this year’s World Travel Market in London, AeroTime spoke with Saudia’s Chief Commercial Officer (CCO) Arved von zur Muehlen, where he made clear that transformation and modernization were top priorities for the airline.
“We see ourselves like the wings of Vision 2030, because it’s all about opening and connecting and bringing people into KSA. The targets are very, very ambitious. 330 million guests, 150 million tourists, and 30 million pilgrims. The country is really opening, and it’s changing so much, and we are the airline, so we needed to transform,” said von zur Muehlen.
While Vision 2030 is not only about the aviation industry, it is a key part of the project that aims to “diversify the economy, empower citizens, and create a vibrant environment for domestic and international investors”.
“Vision 2030 is about change and tourism is only one sector. There are many more points in Vision 2030 It’s all about enhancing the lifestyle of the population of the Saudis. There’s education, there’s health care, there’s entertainment, there are various pillars of the vision and tourism is one pillar,” explained von zur Muehlen.
Changing customer base
Von zur Muehlen has impressive aviation pedigree holding previous CCO roles at both WestJet and Malaysia Airlines and various leadership positions at Qatar Airways, SWISS and Lufthansa.
During the interview he highlighted that the Saudi Arabian population is now dominated by young adults with 68% of people in the county under 30.
With such dominance, Saudia needed to move with the times and modernize, which is perhaps reflected in its decision to rebrand in 2023 with a new logo, aircraft livery, and cabin crew uniforms.
Mr. Arved von zur Muehlen, Chief Commercial Officer of #Saudia, delivered the welcoming remarks at the gala dinner during #IATAAviationDay MENA 2025 in Jeddah, highlighting Saudi Arabia’s tourism growth and Saudia’s pivotal role in connecting the world to the Kingdom. pic.twitter.com/7CCyi4MMEF
— Saudia Group | مجموعة السعودية (@SaudiaGroup) May 6, 2025
“We have 35 million Saudis, so it’s the largest market in the Middle East and 68% are below 30. It’s a very young population, very digital. We had long queues in our City Ticketing Office four years ago where people were waiting to do something. We needed to change, so we went on a full transformation program. Very digital and AI driven, and it’s very interesting, because I think we are the only airline of that size in the world that is transforming while it’s growing,” explained von zur Muehlen.
Upcoming aircraft
Central to Saudia’s transformation is the delivery of 116 planes by 2030 comprised of widebodies and narrowbodies and both Airbus and Boeing aircraft. The new arrivals will include 21 Boeing 787-10s, 13 787-9s, 62 Airbus A321neos and 15 A321XLRs.
“It’s a good healthy mix. Next year, we will receive every month an aircraft. And in 2027 we will receive aircraft every week. So, 2027 is the year when we receive a lot of capacity,” said von zur Muehlen
Commenting on the deployment of the A321XLR, which has so far been received by Iberia, Wizz Air, Aer Lingus, Qantas, and American Airlines, von zur Muehlen said: “The XLR can fly longer routes. At this point in time, we have 24 business class seats in the XLR. It’s a narrowbody and has a full suite so it’s a very nice product. It will fly on longer roads. We are not 100% sure yet where to deploy but I think because slots are scarce in the UK we will continue with widebodies.”
Importance of UK operations
The UK is Saudia’s largest market in terms of frequencies with 54 flights between the European country and Saudi Arabia. These include flights to Birmingham Airport (BHX), Manchester Airport (MAN), London-Heathrow Airport (LHR), and London-Gatwick Airport (LGW).
Most recently in November 2025, Saudia launched a three-weekly service between Dammam King Fahd International Airport (DMM) and Heathrow.
“The UK is the most important market right now in Europe. The UK is good for us in two senses. Firstly, we have a lot of interest into the Kingdom, because we have also a lot of Saudis living in the UK. We have a lot of third and fourth freedom traffic and then there is also connecting traffic from the UK to Indian subcontinent and beyond. We see a very healthy mix,” explained von zur Muehlen.
He added: “And I think it’s fair to say that our strategy is that we focus more on third and fourth freedom, and then sixth freedom fills up. If we hit 20-25% on transfer traffic and 75-80% point to point, then we are very happy with that. That’s a different strategy than most of our neighbors have.”
In October 2025, Delta Air Lines announced plans to become the first US airline to launch non-stop flights to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia with flights set to commence in October 2026.
And over the summer Wizz Air became the first airline ever to operate a direct flight between Gatwick and Medina in Saudi Arabia.
Despite the increasing interest of airlines operating to Saudi Arabia, von zur Muehlen and Saudia welcome the competition.
“We work closely with Delta and encouraged them to look into the market. The same with Air France- KLM, which is also a SkyTeam partner of us, as they also fly into the Kingdom. We also encouraged Virgin Atlantic to come. We don’t see it as competition at all. It’s an extended partnership for us. And again, it also offers me more opportunities. So, I think it is a testament that the whole tourism and the whole marketing we are doing and creating interest is really working,” said von zur Muehlen.
Network expansion
Despite the ongoing expansion of its network and fleet, Saudia believes that there are still many opportunities for the airline, especially in Europe and Africa.
According to von zur Muehlen, Saudia is also strong in Indonesia, Malaysia and Singapore and is looking at destinations in China “when the time is right”.
Von zur Muehlen would like to see destinations that Saudia currently flies three times a week to become daily services.
“First of all we will increase the depth of our network and then our reach. If you look at Jeddah hub, we are very well positioned for Africa and Europe. I think Europe is definitely in our focus, there’s a lot of opportunities for us. Also, Africa, we believe in Africa strongly. We are very well positioned. Indian subcontinent, the Far East, we have a good network, but there’s a lot of opportunities still for us. That’s why we ordered a lot of planes,” he said.
For now, von zur Muehlen says the key to unlocking more growth is the arrival of more planes, and the airline remains focused on its Vision 2030 ambitions.
“I think we are very bullish, everybody is bullish. The whole tourism sector is bullish. I think the investment that flows into the country, or the country is doing in investing in tourism, in hotels, is massive. There’s a lot going on. Of course, we are looking at what is happening in the market, but so far, we see rapid growth in passengers and interests. So, I feel we are on a very good trajectory to hit our targets,” he concluded.
