State-backed Saudia is exploring the opportunity for a US immigration preclearance facility at its hub as the national carrier seeks to ease transatlantic flights and expand its partnership with Delta Air Lines.
The Jeddah-based carrier has a codeshare agreement with Delta Air Lines, one of the largest US airlines, and has discussed this potential opportunity with its partner, Arved von zur Muehlen, Saudia's chief commercial officer, told The National on Tuesday on the sidelines of the Arabian Travel Market in Dubai.
“We would love to have the immigration preclearance so that our guests can pre-clear the immigration in Saudi and fly to the US and don't have to go through immigration on the other end,” he said.
“We understand it takes time to develop this and there are many hurdles we have to undertake, but we work with our government partners in Saudi, and on the other side, all together on the project … We talked to Delta about this and they are very helpful.”
The preclearance centre allows passengers to complete immigration checks before they fly to the US. The UAE is the only country in the Middle East and one of just six nations globally where travellers can go through customs before arriving in the US. The others are Ireland, Aruba, the Bahamas, Canada and Bermuda.
The US Customs and Border Protection (US CBP) preclearance centre is open at Zayed International Airport (AUH), enabling Etihad Airways flights to US destinations including Boston, Chicago, New York and Washington DC. The US border post in Abu Dhabi has handed the local carrier an advantage over rivals as it helps cut long immigration queues in crowded US airports.
Saudia signed the codeshare pact with Delta Air Lines in October last year and the move is a “game-changer for us and really gives us the opportunity to widen the co-operation with Delta now”, Mr Muehlen said.
Under the agreement, Saudia passengers can fly to 12 destinations in the US beyond Delta’s hubs at JFK and Los Angeles airports. Delta passengers will gain access to nine destinations in Saudi Arabia and the Middle East beyond the cities of Jeddah and Riyadh.
“The Delta code is now also flying into Saudi, and that is a good first step, and I think it's something we can build on jointly,” he said.
Saudia, which recorded a 9 per cent year-on-year increase in passenger volumes of nine million travellers in the first quarter of 2025, is “quite bullish” on summer travel demand, Mr Muehlen said.
“The development is good but we always have to be mindful and nimble because market conditions can also change very quickly,” he said. “But at the moment we foresee a very decent year for 2025 in terms of passenger growth.”
The airline, as it adds more routes, expects a 5 per cent to 8 per cent increase in passenger numbers over the 35 million it carried last year.
However, capacity growth will be constrained as it is scheduled to take delivery of a handful of narrow-body jets and must rely on improving aircraft utilisation, he said.
It plans to upgrade some routes with three to four weekly flights into daily frequencies, while exploring growth opportunities in India, South-east Asia and parts of Africa, he added.
Aircraft retrofit programme
The airline plans to undertake an aircraft retrofitting programme in which 15,000 seats will be upgraded across its fleet of aircraft. The seat upgrade will start in late 2025 and continue until late 2027, it said.
“We are putting in business class suites in most of our planes, and especially on the narrow-bodies,” Mr Muehlen said.
“Premium demand is strong, it is still fluctuating, but in general we see a positive trend.”
Demand for seats in the front of the cabin is coming from leisure travellers, not just corporate flyers, a trend that continued to evolve after the pandemic, he added.
