Saudi Arabian Airlines Director General Saleh bin Nasser Al-Jasser announced the launch of the company’s journey, “SV 2020: Together We Shape Our Future,” toward a better future for the national carrier. Its new vision would have a global scope, competitive capabilities, and a commercial foundation. The announcement closed a three-day meeting in King Abdullah Economic City to discuss Saudia’s 2015–2020 strategic plan and the transformation program adopted by executive management as the theme of the next stage.
Opening the executive meeting, Al-Jasser said there was much to be proud of in the institution’s history, including sincere efforts and outstanding work. He said the current direction was to change for the better at every level and in every area, including an air transport industry undergoing major, rapid transformation to keep pace with successive developments.
He said the airline had a strong foundation on which to improve. It had been restructured into companies and strategic units, making management and operations easier and enabling faster change. However, this was insufficient: the current pace of change did not match shifts in customer expectations, government regulatory decisions, or the industry itself.
Al-Jasser expressed confidence that Saudia could achieve the required change on schedule, perhaps sooner, through its people, whom he described as the institution’s best investment. He said the airline had strengths and a solid foundation unavailable even to some major companies. “What we want is to manage the goal and seize opportunities,” he said, describing the journey of change as necessary and enjoyable, leading to the desired objective.
Sulaiman bin Abdullah Al-Hamdan, president of the General Authority of Civil Aviation and chairman of Saudi Arabian Airlines, spoke of the need to change for the better and engage with the airline’s new vision so it could reach the position it deserved. He said this was no longer merely an option but a necessity to keep pace with rapid developments at home and abroad.
The strategic plan aimed to double in seven years what the airline had achieved in its 70-year history. Its fleet would grow from 119 aircraft to 200 by 2020, with more seats, additional domestic flights, and new international destinations.
The plan also aimed to sustain passenger growth through new programs to improve services and the customer experience. The airline carried more than 28 million passengers the previous year.
The five-year strategy focused on completing everything needed to become a global airline committed to guest satisfaction, operating competitively on commercial principles under the slogan “The Homeland Around the World.” It called for highly qualified staff, the highest safety and quality standards, more training and skills development, lower costs, increased and diversified revenue, optimal resource use, and closing every gap that might cause waste.