Saudi Arabian Airlines (Saudia) launched the very first nonstop flight from the US West Coast city of Los Angeles to the Saudi capital city of Riyadh. The first Saudia flight SV 44 took off on August 7 from Los Angeles International Airport on a journey to Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
While the nonstop LAX-RUH flights will only be limited to the month of August to accommodate market demand during the airline’s peak period, the service is expected to be restored in the future to fulfil the needs of Saudi students, the diplomatic community as well as business travellers who prefer to fly nonstop to the Saudi capital.
The Saudi flag carrier already flies nonstop from Los Angeles to Jeddah. The nonstop service to Jeddah launched last year, on March 31, 2014, starting with 3 flights a week and currently at 5 flights weekly during the summer peak season.
Aside from Los Angeles, Saudia currently flies daily from New York JFK, daily from Washington Dulles (IAD) and 3 times a week from Toronto Pearson (YYZ). All flights are nonstop either to Jeddah or Riyadh, with convenient connections to all Saudi domestic points and beyond to its international gateways in the Middle East, Asia, Africa and Europe. Saudia currently flies to more than 80 destinations. As a member of SkyTeam global airline alliance, Saudia also has access to more than 1,000 worldwide destinations serviced by the alliance’s 20 members.
All flights are operated with Boeing B777-300ER with 2 and 3-class configurations. The LAX flights have 24 seats in First Class, 36 seats in Business Class and 245 seats in its Guest Class. As an added in-flight service feature, an on-board SkyChef serves passengers in the First Class cabin but also solicits feedback from Business Class and Guest Class passengers.
