On the sidelines of the Saudi-French Investment Forum in Riyadh, Air France-KLM announced its plan to expand its footprint in Saudi Arabia, with the upcoming launch of a new service between Paris-Charles de Gaulle and Riyadh, operated by Air France, during summer 2025.
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This announcement was made in the presence of Deputy Minister of Tourism for International Affairs Sultan AlMusallam. It comes a few days before Transavia, the low-cost arm of Air France-KLM launches services to Jeddah from Paris-Orly and Lyon.
With these new services, all three airlines of the Air France-KLM Group (Air France, KLM and Transavia) will be serving the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, as KLM already flies to Riyadh and Dammam on departure from its hub at Amsterdam Schiphol airport. Air France-KLM is supported in these developments by the Saudi Air Connectivity Program, a program of the Saudi government.
Benjamin Smith, CEO of Air France-KLM stated: “Saudi Arabia is rapidly emerging as a world-class destination and a key gateway. We are delighted to support the Kingdom in this new chapter by expanding our connections and strengthening our existing ones, and thank the Saudi Air Connectivity Program for its valuable support.”
Majid Khan, CEO of Air Connectivity Program stated: “We are delighted to welcome Air France to the Kingdom, as part of our wider efforts to increase air connectivity to key destinations and ensure travel to the Kingdom is a seamless experience. Air connectivity holds immense potential to boost tourism development. The commencement of direct flights from Air France-KLM between King Khalid International Airport, Riyadh and Charles de Gaulle, Paris from Summer 2025, will enable the two-way flow of thousands more tourists between our two great countries.”