Saudia Airlines, the national carrier for Saudi Arabia, has announced it will resume flights to Manchester Airport with the introduction of a direct air service from Jeddah’s King Abdulaziz International Airport from the start of summer 2014 schedule. The airline will launch a three times weekly operation on the route from the start of April 2014 using a Boeing 777.

“We are delighted to welcome Saudia back to Manchester Airport with their introduction of Jeddah services. The introduction of the new three weekly Jeddah route will further strengthen the Middle East connections from Manchester and sees another direct long haul service added to our network of connections,” said Ken O’Toole, chief commercial officer, Manchester Airports Group (MAG).

Saudia last operated into Manchester in 2009 having served the UK city via Geneva for the previous two years. Like then, the new non-stop Jeddah route is expected to attract a range of leisure and business passengers. The introduction of this route is testament to the strength of Manchester airport's catchment supported by strong commercial, ethnic and educational relationships between Saudi Arabia and the North West of the England.

“We are very happy that our plans to return to Manchester have now come to fruition. Commercial ties between the North of England and Saudi Arabia have traditionally been very strong,” said Rashid Alajmi, general manager of passenger sales and services for the European region, Saudia.

According to Alajmi, the North of England's large Muslim population will benefit from this new service when travelling to perform their religious pilgrimages of Hajj and Umrah. It will also support the many Saudi students who choose the North of England to further their studies in one of the region's many educational establishments.

There has been a growing demand for travel between Saudi Arabia and the UK over the last couple of years after a decline during the first half of the 2000s, official data from the UK Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) shows. After reaching a low of just over 205,000 passengers in 2005, the market has been in continuous growth and had more than doubled to 480,000 travellers in 2012, up 3.6 per cent on the previous year.

The recent growth in passengers has been facilitated by increasing capacity between the UK and Saudi Arabia. According to OAG Schedules Analyser, scheduled seats between the two countries have been on the rise since 2006 with significant rises in 2007 (20.6 per cent) and 2009 (46.1 per cent) matching with the peaks in demand. The data shows that capacity reduced 8.7 per cent in 2013, but official end of year statistics from the UK CAA have not yet been released to see how this impacted demand levels.

The table below highlights the changing passenger demand in this market since the turn of the Century.