Planners at Saudi Arabia’s General Authority for Civil Aviation (GACA) are moving ahead with a new business aviation strategy launched at the Future Aviation Forum in May. However, calls for decreasing jet size to spur a dramatic increase in particularly domestic charter availability continue to reverberate around the expansive country.

Over the past six months, regional and international expressions of interest have been coming in and, in some cases, agreements have already been signed. Most immediately, there will be substantial investment opportunities for infrastructure funds, airport operators, aircraft operators, FBOs, and MROs, according to GACA’s blueprint.

GACA general manager for general aviation Imtiyaz Manzary said some companies had already signed deals to set up facilities or services, while others were awaiting certain milestones before making announcements or have plans still under discussion with the authorities. He declined to give details of specific agreements.

“All interested foreign companies are reaching out to us at GACA and we are then directing them to the locations in which they are interested,” he told AIN.

Yosef Hafiz, commercial v-p of sales and marketing at Riyadh-based NasJet Private Aviation, said he expected an increase in new private aircraft owners next year. Doing business in-kingdom on an operator certificate (GACA Part 125) had become easier with regard to permits and authorizations for flight approvals for pilots, he said.

He added that a new requirement had been introduced for predictive windshear on private aircraft operating commercially under a Saudi air operator certificate (GACA Part 121).

“We're already working with a few individuals who are looking to purchase aircraft at a very early stage and involving us. That allows them to understand the rules and regulations around buying an aircraft,” Hafiz noted. “We're working with many new owners to buy business jets where we would operate them. The shift is not to larger but to smaller aircraft. We're still seeing that trend as we did before—smaller business jets.”

At the 2022 MEBAA show, Fahad Aljarboa, CEO of Saudia Private Aviation, told AIN that a dearth of aircraft in the Saudi market meant that 94% of charter requests to the company went unsatisfied, with frequent recourse to international operators raising the specter of the grey charter market. This situation has not dramatically improved in the intervening two years.

GACA’s May plan calls for general and business aviation terminals at nine major airports, as well as six general aviation-only airports that have mostly yet to be constructed.

The general aviation-only airfields will be in the Saudi capital Riyadh, as well as trading hubs Jeddah and Jubail, major shipping and oil and gas hubs. In addition to being the country’s main trading hub, Jeddah also affords access to pilgrimage at Makkah, where the existing executive airport will be upgraded. Meanwhile, Neom and Amaala will focus on resort tourism.

“These are dedicated general aviation airports; it’s about time for these types of airports because taxi times at existing airports are horrendous,” said Hafiz. “Business jets have to get in line with everybody else; general aviation airports will allow the traffic to flow in and out without having to get in line with commercial traffic. It's a positive move forward.”

In Riyadh, it’s likely that the new King Salman International Airport will mean a completely new business aviation terminal. “They're focused on having a new location, possibly having a dedicated runway for the general aviation terminal at [the airport],” said Hafiz. “It will be a clean sheet; they'll move it from its current location, as they've done in the past with Jeddah. They've moved the FBOs from their old locations around 10 or 12 years ago to new ones at the [Jeddah] North terminal. The existing [Riyadh] facility could be demolished.”

The roadmap recognizes the lack of aircraft accommodation available at Saudi airports. It will also ensure “dedicated parking hangarage capacity in key general aviation locations, which will improve attractiveness for business jet owners as well as the availability and quality of services.”

Still, Saudi operators are resigned to the rollout of such huge new plans taking time. In the intervening transition period, GACA is mulling a switch from U.S. FAA regulations to European Union Aviation Safety Agency rules, according to Mohammed Al Bokhari, CEO of Jeddah-based Aviation Horizons.

“We have 22 airports in Saudi Arabia and the average flying hours between each city are an hour and a half,” Bokhari told AIN. “We really need regional aircraft, and we don't have enough at all. We are trying to bring in a couple of aircraft to accommodate that market demand.”

“To be honest with you, the [entire] project is too big, and it will take time for it to be very well developed. We just have to be patient,” he concluded.