Waking the sleeping tiger

The Saudi Air Connectivity Program (ACP) is a key tool the Kingdom’s Ministry of Tourism is deploying to help meet its ambitious target of attracting 150 million visitors by 2030.

Leadership of the ACP passed to Majid Khan in January, with the network development executive arriving from a successful four-year stint spearheading Istanbul Airport’s swift rise as a global connector.

Khan is undoubtedly taking on the most challenging role in his career, becoming one of the many senior aviation industry imports working on satisfying Saudi Arabia’s new-found desire to boost inbound tourism as part of the country’s Vision 2030 to diversify the oil-rich nation’s economy.

“I was attracted to this challenge because Saudi Arabia is a sleeping tiger,” Khan told Arabian Aerospace. “It’s an untouched market and I believe the potential of tourism is massive in Saudi Arabia.”

Formed in 2021 as part of Vision 2030, in a LinkedIn post Khan described ACP as “a unique and dynamic initiative, responsible for boosting air connectivity in Saudi Arabia and working alongside both the tourism and the aviation ecosystem to turn the Kingdom into a global aviation hub.”

But why does the country and its network of 29 airports need such a body?

Part of the reason is the scale of the task, in addition to the aggressive timelines, which means everyone must rally behind achieving the eye-watering 150 million target in just seven years.

“The reason the ACP was created was to get the whole ecosystem together,” explained Khan. This includes Visit Saudi, airports, and airlines. “We support route development for the 29 airports with the focus on boosting inbound tourism. We are not talking about Umrah [pilgrimage] traffic here, but pure leisure.”

Khan has quickly realised that education is a big part of ACP’s job at this stage. “Many people do not have enough understanding about the Saudi Arabian tourism market. People still think it's desert, it's oil and you only fly to Saudi Arabia because you must,” he said.

“What we are trying to create is the understanding that Saudi Arabia is not an alternative, but a new tourism destination to what you see in Europe, Asia, or North America,” he said.

Luring airlines means much more than simply throwing incentives at them.

“Incentives are one of the enablers [to develop new routes], but are not sustainable on the long run,” he added.

What is sustainable is an attractive tourism product. Saudi Arabia has a way to go on this front, but is working fast to develop its leisure offering and promote its existing destinations.

“This is about educating people about what there is to do in Riyadh, what can be done in Medina besides the pilgrimage, about the winter destinations and the potential for cruises,” said Khan. “Then there’s the Red Sea, which is the new Maldives.”

“Together with our partners in Saudi Arabia's tourism and aviation sectors, we are developing initiatives to cater to Asian travellers,” said Khan.

While flag carrier Saudia, and Riyadh Air when it begins operations, and other national airlines, are important partners for ACP, it will not support routes that are predominantly outbound markets, said Khan.

ACP has already supported several new routes including Jeddah to Brussels; Jeddah to Bishkek, the capital of Kyrgyzstan (all flynas); Warsaw-Riyadh (LOT); and Beijing to Jeddah and Riyadh (Hainan Airlines).

Already in the first quarter of 2024, ACP has confirmed four new airline routes: China Southern Airlines will begin operations from Shenzhen and Beijing to Riyadh; China Eastern Airlines will introduce flights from Shanghai to Riyadh; ITA Airways has confirmed routes from Rome to Jeddah and Riyadh; and Eurowings will launch flights from Berlin and Cologne to Jeddah.