Flynas, Saudi Arabia’s first and only budget airline, has launched its direct flight service from Dammam to Abu Dhabi.
The carrier’s first such flight landed in the capital, marking the start of its new direct operation between Abu Dhabi and Dammam with four weekly flights.
The number of flynas weekly flights between cities of the kingdom to Abu Dhabi increases to 25, with 14 weekly flights from Riyadh and seven weekly flights from Jeddah, along with the new flights from King Fahd International Airport in Dammam.
Founded as Nas Air, the airline began operations in 2007. A codeshare agreement with Etihad that dates back to 2012 sees flynas placing its code on a number of flights operated by Etihad that radiate from Abu Dhabi. In May 2016 the airline signed a codeshare agreement with Pegasus Airlines.
With a young fleet of 29 A320 aircraft, operating nearly 1,000 weekly flights to 33 destinations within and outside of Saudi Arabia. Flynas has operated over 170,000 flights carrying more than 18 million passengers since its launch.
The carrier unveiled a new modern identity in 2013 and made significant investments in enhancing its aircraft fleet and introducing a dedicated Business Class cabin.
The touchdown came as Abu Dhabi International Airport (AUH) revealed air traffic to and from Saudi Arabia surged in November compared with the previous year, with an increase of 43.5 per cent
AUH said it received close to 1.9 million passengers in November, representing a 4.4 per cent increase in airport traffic compared with November 2015.
Abu Dhabi Airports’ traffic figures also show consistent growth throughout the year, with total AUH passenger numbers having increased by 5.3 per cent on the previous year. More than 22 million travellers have used AUH so far during 2016. Total passenger traffic in November reached 1,860,207, while there was a 38.6 per cent increase in passenger traffic through Terminal 3 compared to the same month last year, reaching 1,317,591.
Cargo services experienced growth of 1.3 per cent last month compared with November 2015.
chnelson@thenational.ae
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