Saudia reports 26% increase in Q1 passenger traffic 

(MENAFN) Saudi Arabian Airlines (Saudia) reported 26 percent increase in passenger traffic to 5.72 million passengers in the first quarter of 2012 from 4.56 million a year earlier, Arab News reported.

Khaled Al-Mulhim, Director General of the national carrier, said the increase in the number of passengers was due to the strategy of maximum utilization of the company's potentials with new fleets of aircraft.

Saudia's total flight operations during the quarter increased 14 percent to 37,920 flights, compared to 33,384 flights a year earlier.

Domestic passenger traffic also rose 25 percent to 3.46 million compared to 2.77 million in the same period last year, the carrier said.

Total internal flights increased to 27,048 flights during the quarter quarter as against 23,370 flights in the same period last year, Saudia added.

International passengers grew 27 percent to 2.26 million compared to 1.78 million a year earlier, while international flights rose 9 percent to 10,872, compared to 10,014 flights a year ago.