Saudi low-cost airline Flynas will launch a direct weekly flight between Jeddah and Ankara starting 7 November.
The airline said that the decision to introduce the new flight was made to meet the objectives of the kingdom’s Pilgrims Experience Program (PEP) to facilitate access to the Two Holy Mosques and the National Civil Aviation Strategy to enable national air carriers to contribute to connecting Saudi with 250 international destinations and to reach 330 million passengers by 2030.
As part of its network expansion plans, flynas has said that it will add seven new routes later this year. These routes will operate from its upcoming operations base at Madinah Airport starting from December 1, 2023.
The announcement of flynas introducing a weekly flight from Jeddah to Türkiye comes as Saudi Arabia this week confirmed that it will now grant e-visas to visitors from six additional countries, with one of them being Türkiye. The visitor e-visa is valid for an entire year, grants multiple entries, and permits a stay of up to 90 days.
Saudia, the national flag carrier of Saudi Arabia, also this week confirmed that it has increased its monthly seat capacity by 380 per cent for flights between the kingdom and Türkiye.
The operational expansion by Saudia includes the addition of flights to both Ankara and Gaziantep, with direct connections to Al-Madinah Al-Munawarah. Also, the airline plans to introduce an additional 100 flights during the peak Umrah season, effectively increasing the available seating capacity by 37,000. These flights will serve both King Abdulaziz International airport in Jeddah and Prince Mohammad bin Abdulaziz International airport in Al-Madinah Al-Munawarah.