March 26--JEDDAH -- Abdul Aziz Al-Hazmi, acting director general of Saudi Arabian Airlines (Saudia) and CEO of Saudi Airlines Company, received an honorary plaque from FlightStats, a leading provider of data services and applications for the travel industry, on the occasion of Saudia winning sixth position among world airlines in terms of on-time performance in 2013.
The plaque was awarded to Al-Hazmi during his meeting with Jim Hertzel, vice president of FlightStats for operations and other executives at his office in Saudia headquarters in Jeddah, which was also attended by a number of top Saudia executives.
In a statement on the occasion of this achievement, Al-Hazmi said Saudia is determined to implement its strategic plans to strengthen the national flag carrier's competitive position among global airlines, following the directives of Prince Fahd bin Abdullah, president of the General Authority of Civil Aviation and chairman of Saudia's board of directors.
"Saudia intends to strengthen its global position by adopting the latest developments in the aviation industry and meeting its present and future requirements," the CEO said. He said the latest achievement has further strengthened his confidence in the capability of Saudia staff who has obtained tremendous experience in all areas of the aviation industry.
"Saudia holds a high position in regional and international civil aviation organizations, including FlightStats, which is an independent body that monitors the flight performance of hundreds of international airlines, by observing the arrival and departure of more than 150,000 flights daily."
Al-Hazmi also spoke about the airline's future programs, including the deployment of its new fleet of aircraft to expand its domestic and international network and increase seat capacity to accommodate the growing number of passengers.
"We are also determined to achieve better on-time performance and enhance the capabilities of our employees," the acting DG said. "We consider our manpower as the airline's backbone and the main driving force of its successes," he added.
In a similar statement, Hertzel said, "At FlightStats, we assess the performance of all airlines and monitor their on-time performance of flight arrivals and departures. We also provide detailed aviation information to travellers as well as those associated with the industry."
He explained, "We collect data about airlines including Saudia from various sources and compare their operation performance. It includes the number of flights that have departed within 15 minutes of the scheduled departure time (D15). We are delighted to announce that Saudia has won the sixth position among 200 global airlines. We would like to congratulate Saudia for its high standard of performance and its remarkable progress."
Tod Hutchinson, CEO of FlightStats, also congratulated Saudia for its distinguished performance benefiting its passengers. "Being a leading international company that provides data related to aviation and airports, FlightStats is proud of providing information about the performance of all airlines, projecting Saudia as one of the best global airlines in 2013," the CEO of FlightStats said.
It is worth mentioning that Saudia operated more than 170,000 scheduled and additional flights in 2013 on its domestic and international network, carrying more than 25,000,000 passengers, and achieving 90.46 percent on-time performance.
Copyright 2014 - Arab News, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia
