Max Kingsley-Jones/JEDDAH
IN ITS FIRST major revamp for over two decades, Saudi Arabian Airlines has unveiled a new corporate identity and pledged a new sense of commercialism within the state-owned carrier.
The revamp, which includes the dropping of the name Saudia, is described by the airline's director-general, Dr Khaled Ben-Bakr, as "a re-launch for the 21st century", and is being seen as a step in the transition towards private ownership.
Saudi Arabian commissioned US-based image consultancy Dieffenbach Elkins to create the identity, which has taken two years to evolve and is likely to cost $50 million to implement. Research has revealed that the name Saudia means little to non-Arab speakers, particularly in North America. Unveiling the new identity at a ceremony in Jeddah on 16 July, Ben-Bakr made reference to the in- adequacies of "old management methods and traditional organisation structures in the face of tough competition and fierce price wars".
He adds that the airline has become "-more dynamic, flexible, and able to work on a commercial basis".
The introduction of the new identity has been timed to coincide with the arrival of a new fleet of 61 Boeing and McDonnell Douglas aircraft. Deliveries of the $6 billion order, which was finalised last year, are scheduled to begin in 1997. The order includes five Boeing 747-400s, 23 777-200s, 29 McDonnell Douglas MD-90s and four MD-11 freighters.
Deliveries will be completed by 2001, with the bulk arriving by the end of 1998. The MD-90s will replace Saudi Arabian's 19 Boeing 737-200s, and the 777s its 17 Lockheed TriStar 200s. The 737s are scheduled to be phased out by late 1998/early 1999, while all TriStars will be removed from service by October 1998.
Saudi Arabian will retain its fleet of 11 Airbus A300-600s, and ten 747-300s, but a decision on the fate of its eight 747-100Bs has not yet been finalised, although a phase-out in the 1999-2001 period has been set tentatively.
The airline is still evaluating 50- to 100-seat regional types, which would enable it to improve the efficiency of its domestic network. The Canadair Regional Jet AI(R) Avro RJ and various turboprop types, are under evaluation and a decision is expected later this year, or early in 1997.
Source: Flight International
