Saudi Arabia targeting 330 million airline passengers a year by 2030, official says

Saudi Arabia targeting 330 million airline passengers a year by 2030, official says

Saudi Arabia will invest over 500 billion riyals ($133.34 billion) in airports, sea ports, rail and other infrastructure by the end of the decade in a bid to make the kingdom a global transportation and logistics hub, its transport minister said on Monday.

Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, who is pushing economic diversification to wean Saudi Arabia off oil revenues and create jobs, announced a transport and logistics drive, of which few details have been released publicly, last Tuesday.

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Minister of Transport and Logistic Services Saleh bin Nasser al-Jasser said at an event in Saudi Arabia that the strategy included many mega projects, with over 500 billion riyals earmarked for investment.

The strategy is the latest economic policy to put Riyadh in competition with the United Arab Emirates, the region's business, trade and tourism hub.

Saudi Arabia plans to increase the number of international aviation routes from 99 to over 250 and more than triple total annual passenger traffic from 109 million in 2019 to 330 million by 2030, Abdulaziz Al-Duauilj, the head of the aviation authority, said at the same event.

The kingdom's international network is currently significantly smaller than that