Saudia Airlines will reopen its direct Jeddah to Manchester route in March after a seven-year absence.
The three-times weekly service will begin on March 28 and will operate on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Sundays.
The national carrier will deploy a Boeing 777-200LR on the direct route, which last operated in 2007 and is designed to appeal to business travellers as well as north-west England's Muslim community.
Flight SV124 departs Manchester Airport T2 at 1200 and arrives at Jeddah's King Abdulaziz International at 2000 local time. Return service SV123 leaves Jeddah at 0330 and lands in Manchester at 0815.
Rashid Alajmi, Saudia's general manager of passenger sales and services for the European Region, said: "Commercial ties between the North of England and Saudi Arabia have traditionally been very strong and this new service will give business customers in the region the opportunity to travel to Saudi Arabia without having to transfer en-route."
Last year, Saudia and its fellow Skyteam member Air France agreed to extend their existing codeshare agreement (see news, September 5).
Graham Smith
