Sama Airlines seeks bilateral pact to enter Dubai market

Sama Airlines, Saudi Arabia's second budget carrier after Nas Air, is likely to strike a bilateral agreement with Dubai airlines if it fails to obtain approval from the civil aviation authority to fly into Dubai, according to its chief executive officer.

"Possibly, we could look at bilateral pact with Dubai. It would provide increased choices to our travellers," Andrew Cowen, CEO of Sama Airlines, told Emirates Business, without elaborating on it.

The Dammam-based low fare carrier, which already operates services to Abu Dhabi and Sharjah in the UAE, was expected to gain a regulatory approval to fly into Dubai this summer. However, the talks between the airline and Dubai's civil aviation authority are still going on, according to Cowen. "It was our understanding and belief that we would get rights to fly into Dubai this summer but it has not yet come through."

"Though Sama has already got the approval from Saudi Arabia to start operations to Dubai, we have not yet been able to secure approval from Dubai's civil aviation authority. And we do not know how much more time it would take," Cowen said.

"However, the good news is that with Dubai's new Terminal 3 due to open shortly [October 14], what may have been capacity constraints, will disappear soon. And it would be a good situation for us to be in," he added.

When asked what has so far been the issue behind Sama Airlines not being able to gain rights for Dubai, Cowen said he understands the issue to be Emirates' access to Saudi Arabia and vice-versa.

"Very simply, Saudi Arabia already allows Emirates, Etihad and Air Arabia to fly into the Kingdom. So we should be allowed to fly into Dubai, especially since Dubai follows an open skies policy and has allowed other budget carriers such as Kuwait's Jazeera Airways to fly into Dubai," Cowen said.

"We are already flying to Abu Dhabi and Sharjah. So Dubai is obviously losing out. If we are able to pursue the civil aviation authority to allow us entry into Dubai, we would have a substantial number of travellers flying into Dubai from Saudi Arabia," he added.

The airline announced its agreement yesterday with Kabul-based Safi Airways to provide more choices for travel to the customers of both airlines. The pact follows the signing of a similar agreement with Bahrain Air earlier this month in order to increase networks of both the carriers within the region and internationally.

"Sama is continuing its work to expand access to international destinations not directly served by Sama such as Manama, Kuchi, Kabul, and Mashad. The co-operation with Safi Airways and Bahrain Air is allowing Sama to direct sell to those destinations with these partner airlines," Cowen said.

He said Sama would also look at opportunities in other emirates such as Fujairah and Ras Al Khaimah.

"We keep a close eye on developments in emerging markets. As of now, we are interested to see how well and how fast markets such as RAK and Fujairah develop," said Cowen.

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