Al-Saeeda airlines established

The national airline company Yemenia and the Islamic Corporation for the Development of the Private Sector, an affiliate of the Islamic Bank for Development, announced on Tuesday the establishment of a new airline company named “Al-Saeeda”. This company will operate domestic flights and start up with a capital valued at $80 million. 

In the press conference, president of the General Investment Authority, Salah al-Atar, said that the Islamic corporation will own 75 percent of the total shares of the company and Yemenia will control the remaining 25 percent. Al-Atar said that the authorities would offer all facilities and resources to ensure the success of this project, saying that the project would fulfill needs within the transportation sector as well as providing a boost to tourism.

The executive director of Al-Saeeda Airline Company, Abdullah al-Mutarib, said that the company would begin flights by the second quarter of this year. The initial plan aims to have four planes in operation with plans to increase the number of planes to six in the next year and eight by 2012.

“After three years, the shareholding process will be opened by the Islamic Bank for Development,” al-Mutarab added. He expected that the company’s capital would increase up to $300 million after three years, and made it clear that Al-Saeeda would operate at least one daily flight to all eight internal airports in the country.
 
“Five daily flights to Aden, four daily flights to Al-Rayan airport in Hadramout, three daily flights to Hodeidah airport and three flights to Taiz,” he said. He also predicted that the company will be handling 350,000 passengers by 2012. Al-Mutarab promised good service with low fares, stating that “the cost of tickets will be between YR5,000 and 15,000.” This will be achieved through “offering extensive training for our employees and placing 50 employees per plane while the general industry average is 200 to 400.”

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