Al-Watania, Lion Air’s inaugural flights arrive

Arab News

JEDDAH: King Abdulaziz International Airport (KAIA) received the inaugural flight of Lion Air of Indonesia and Al-Watania of Kuwait, according to reports over the weekend.

Lion Air had 496 passengers on board arriving from Jakarta. The airline will be flying three times a week to Jeddah from Jakarta.

Expressing his pleasure over the inaugural landings, the airport’s director, Mazen Khashoggi, said: “Such developments at KAIA are part of the strategic growth plan set to meet the required passenger capacity and growing demand.”

KAIA accommodates the needs of three national airlines and 60 foreign airlines, offering the highest levels of technical support and security measures for the aviation industry. The airport currently handles up to 18 million passengers a year and is expanding its capacity and capabilities including new terminals to serve the anticipated increase of pilgrims, as well as tourists and business travelers both from within the Kingdom and overseas. Lion Mentari Airlines (operating as Lion Air) is Indonesia’s largest private carrier and Asia’s first hybrid carrier, which offers both Economy and Business class seating, based in Jakarta.

It operates scheduled passenger services on an extensive domestic network from Jakarta and also flies to certain Far East destinations. “Our flight to Jeddah is the first step of our launch toward the Middle East,” Ahmed Hassan, Lion Air’s director-general said.

Abdul Salam Al-Bahr, CEO of Al-Wataniya Airways, said the carrier, which caters to the business community, aimed to provide exceptional services between Kuwait and Jeddah in a two-class configuration — First and Economy.