Throwback Thursday: ‘Return of the Jeddah’ – Saudia’s Back at Manchester

This week we’re looking at a story we released on January 13, 2014 about Saudia Airlines, and its resumption to Manchester Airport.

You can read the original story here: ‘Return of the Jeddah’ – Saudia’s Back at Manchester

Last year, Saudia Airlines, the national carrier for Saudi Arabia resumed flights to Manchester Airport, with the introduction of a direct service from Jeddah’s King Abdulaziz International Airport at the start of its summer 2014 schedule.

The route launched with three weekly rotations at the start of April 2014 using Boeing 777 aircraft, and was the first time the airline had operated into Manchester since 2009, when Saudia served the UK city via Geneva. Here are some images from the launch event at Manchester Airport...

The route benefits the North of England’s large Muslim population when travelling to perform their religious pilgrimages of Hajj and Umrah. It also supports the many Saudi students who chose further study in one of the region’s many educational establishments.

After growing demand for travel between Saudi Arabia and the UK, the market has been in continuous growth since 2006.

A year on from the announcement and the route is performing to expectations, according to Saudia staff in the UK. In fact the airline in late November 2014 introduced a fourth weekly frequency with the launch of a new Monday rotation.

Saudia even gained some company on the route in the summer when independent Saudi low-cost carrier flynas entered the market as part of a growth into international long-haul flying.

The carrier introduced a three times weekly service between Jeddah and Manchester on May 2, 2014 but closed the route at the start of August 2014 as loads failed to meet the company’s initial expectations.

According to our analysis, just under an estimated 50,000 passengers flew on the Jeddah - Manchester route in its first nine months of operation (April 2014 - November 2014).

During this period Saudia has been generating monthly loads of between 44 and 75 per cent on the outbound sector from Jeddah and 42 and 79 per cent from Manchester. The data suggests flynas had secured average loads of 70 per cent plus during its first two months of operation, falling to just over 50 per cent in July 2014 and August 2014.

In the chart, below, we look at the two airlines' monthly performance on the route.