Group president and senior adviser to start-up SaudiGulf Airlines (SGQ, Dammam), Samer Majali, has told Reuters that regulatory approvals aside, the airline now plans to begin operations in November of this year.
"We are working with the General Authority of Civil Aviation (GACA) in preparation for starting operations to obtain the technical licence," he said.
A spokesman for the GACA, Wael Al Sarhan, confirmed the start-up had presented its operational readiness plans for a proposed November 1 launch to the Saudi regulator's board on Sunday, May 24.
According to Sarhan, Saudi Gulf currently has a 'primary licence' with the issuance of a full Air Operators Certificate (AOC) to come once all launch requirements have been complied with.
Earlier this year, the president of the GACA, Sulaiman Al Hamdan, said prolonged delays in the carrier's launch were caused by its failure to meet the kingdom’s strict AOC regulatory requirements.
Owned by the Dammam-based Abdel Hadi Abdullah Al-Qahtani & Sons Group of Companies (Tariq A.H. Al-Qahtani & Bros.), Saudi Gulf Airlines will operate multiple daily flights between Dammam, Jeddah International and Riyadh domestically along with one international destination. Thereafter, it will expand to include Abha, Madinah, Gassim and Tabuk and other destinations in the Middle East and Africa. Gulf Air (GF, Bahrain International) is acting in an advisory role to the project.
It will operate four A320-200 (sl)s, two of which are currently in storage at Lourdes/Tarbes, and sixteen A220-300s the first of which is scheduled to arrive from Bombardier Aerospace (BBA, Montréal Trudeau) later next year.
Fellow entrant and Qatar Airways (QR, Doha Hamad International) subsidiary, Al Maha Airways (Riyadh), is also aiming to launch operations later in the year though the status of its certification is currently unknown.
