Providing guests with expanded travel
and flight options
Jeddah, Gurugram: Saudia,
the national flag carrier of Saudi Arabia, and Air India, India’s leading
global airline, have signed a codeshare agreement that will take effect in
February. The agreement introduces a range of benefits for Saudia’s and Air
India’s guests, boosting connectivity, enhancing travel experience,
strengthening network access, maximising flight options, and supporting growing
demand across tourism, business travel, and wider guest segments.
Through
the new partnership, guests will enjoy streamlined booking and ticketing,
smooth connections using a single itinerary, and baggage check-through to their
final destination.
The
codeshare will provide Saudia’s guests access to major cities across India via
Mumbai and Delhi, including Ahmedabad, Bengaluru, Kolkata, Kochi, Hyderabad,
Chennai, Lucknow, and Jaipur and more than 15 other destinations as interline.
Air India guests travelling to Jeddah or
Riyadh with Air India can take seamless onward connections on Saudia-operated
flights to Dammam, Abha, Gassim, Gizan, Madinah, and Taif. The addition of
codeshare flights on the Jeddah-Riyadh route now allows guests more flexibility
to arrive in one city and depart from another. Connections to select
complementary international destinations will be added later this year.
H.E.
Engr. Ibrahim Al-Omar, Director General of Saudia Group, said: “The codeshare
agreement with Air India marks a strategic step forward, given both airlines’
long histories and their shared commitment to increasing connectivity within
their home markets and between their countries, while offering guests broader
access to more destinations through simplified travel procedures that elevate
the overall travel experience.”
He
added: “Saudia’s presence in India spans over 60 years, during which we’ve
proudly served a wide range of guests and helped foster stronger ties between
our two nations. Saudia Arabia is a great place to visit, and with seamless
e-visas, stopover visas, and also visa-on-arrival for eligible Indian passport
holders, it has never been easier to visit the Kingdom.”
Campbell Wilson, Chief Executive Officer
& Managing Director, Air India, said: “Saudi Arabia is amongst our most
important markets in the Middle East, with the country fast transforming into a
major international gateway to the region. We are happy to be partnering with
Saudia to provide greater access to the large Indian diaspora spread across
Saudi Arabia as well as to open up the Kingdom’s rapidly evolving and diverse
tourism offerings and remarkable destinations to holidaymakers from India.”
Since its privatisation in 2022, Air India
has significantly expanded its global alliance network. Today, the airline
maintains 24 codeshare partnerships and nearly 100 interline agreements with
leading carriers worldwide, providing seamless access for Air India customers
to over 800 destinations globally.