Saudia marks 10 years of operations to China

Saudia marks 10 years of operations to China

JEDDAH — Saudi Arabian Airlines (Saudia), the national flag carrier of Saudi Arabia marks ten years of operations to the People's Republic of China.Saudia began operations to Guangzhou on March 27 in 2011, initially with thrice-weekly-flights with a widebody Boeing 777-200, which was upgraded to a B777-300 in 2017 and then to a Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner thereafter (2019).The airline steadily built up its market presence and flight operations in China over the past decade in response to strong passenger growth and rising demand for greater connectivity between the Kingdom and the East Asian country.In 2011, the route was operated as a tag flight Jeddah-Riyadh-Guangzhou, which then grew to seven nonstop flights presently, four from Riyadh and three from Jeddah.Saudia operates from the new Terminal 2 at Guangzhou Baiyun International airport, which opened in April 2018. Saudia was the first international airline to move its operations to the new terminal.In response to the coronavirus pandemic outbreak, Saudia suspended flights to Guangzhou between Feb. 1, 2020, until July 22, 2020. During the period of