• sama revenues have increased over 250% on first half of 2008
• supports sama’s successful start-up and the ongoing development and expansion of sama
• substantial further enhancement of sama’s financial position
• follows sr300 million already invested at start-up
• international routes have already moved into profitability
riyadh 12 jul 2008: sama airlines, the newest airline in saudi arabia, announced that sama shareholders have decided to strengthen sama's financial position with further sr200 million of financing (usd 53.33 million)
hrh prince bandar bin khalid al faisal, chairman of sama said: “sama’s shareholders have been very encouraged by the progress sama has made in the past year since launch. sama has achieved a number of major milestones that currently demonstrate how the business is progressing. for instance: 1m passengers booked in its first year, a route network serving 22 destinations across saudi arabia and the middle east, awarded ‘best new brand' by gulf marketing review, ‘best in aviation' by arabian business, among other achievements.”
prince bander added: “of particular importance to shareholders in making this further financing available is our success in gaining early access to international routes. this has meant that sama has the opportunity to fly routes profitability, despite the increase in fuel prices, for which sama receives no subsidy. we could not have reached this point without the continued support of the general authority of civil aviation, gaca, for which we are very thankful.”
andrew cowen, ceo of sama said: “we are delighted that sama’s shareholders are investing further in the development and growth in sama, especially during this difficult time of very high oil prices. sama has seen very strong bookings on international routes, clearly demonstrating the huge demand for quality, low fares regional travel between saudi arabia and the middle east. our revenues have increased over 250% for first half of 2008 and our international routes have already moved into profitability.
“sama challenge remains the fact that the combination of domestic fare cap plus escalating oil prices, means that domestic flights are chronically unprofitable. during june 2008 for example, sama will be paying the equivalent of $178 per barrel for aviation fuel, yet the domestic economy fare cap has been unchanged for the last 8 or 9 years, this situation is different to saudi airlines, who is benefiting from subsidized fuel rates that is one seventh of what sama fuel cost is on all their domestic routes. we are continuing to work very closely with gaca to alleviate this situation, enabling us to invest further in saudi domestic routes.” andrew cowen added.
mr. cowen went on to say: “we are very pleased that along with bringing low fares to the market, we have also been able to bring some innovations that simplify the whole travel experience. for example, more than 50% of our guests choose to book over the internet with us. sama is the first and the only airline in saudi arabia and the middle east enabling guests to pay for their booking through the atm's making use of the sadad network. as part of our ‘just for you' the customer service program, we have also launched innovations such as the ‘9 for 1' customer loyalty scheme, where for every 9 flight flown, you get 1 flight free. sama offer hand-baggage only check-in which is very popular for the business traveler, and also preferential assigned seating for families. we are also the first airline in the region to offer female only toilets on the aircraft, which we feel sure, will be very popular with our lady guests”
sama flies to 12 domestic destinations (dammam, riyadh, jeddah, abha, jizan, hail, arar, jouf, tabouk, rafha, and bisha) and 10 international destinations across the middle east (abu-dhabi, sharjah, amman, damascus, latakia, aleppo, beirut, alexandira, asiut and sharm el sheikh). sama offers various ways for booking, such as the website (www.flysama.com) or call centre 9200 05588, or sales centre in all the main cities (riyadh, dammam, jeddah, madinah, abha) and the airports, or our authorised travel agents (inside saudi arabia and outside). there are various payment options also available (cash, pos, credit card, sadad).
