German national carrier Lufthansa is to inaugurate flights between Munich and Jeddah, its second destination in Saudi Arabia from its Bavarian hub. The three times weekly service will start from October 31 and will actually operate as an extension of the airline’s current Munich – Riyadh service. However, there will be a significant increase in capacity with a 221-seat Airbus A340-300 being used on the route rather than a Boeing 737-800 currently flown on its behalf by PrivatAir.
Jeddah is Saudi Arabia’s main port and has a population of three million. The city is considered to be the principal gateway to Mecca and has many historic sites to offer visitors. It is also becoming an increasingly important industrial centre on the Red Sea.
“Saudi Arabia is becoming increasingly important for the Bavarian market. Deploying a larger aircraft on this route will enable Lufthansa to offer its customers a much wider choice of connections to Saudi Arabia,” said Thomas Klühr, who is responsible for Munich & Direct Services on the Lufthansa Board.
The German airline already offers a daily connection to Jeddah from its Frankfurt hub. In the past year it carried an estimated 53,000 O&D passengers on its flights between Germany and Saudi Arabia, giving it a 40.0 per cent share of the market. Saudi Arabian Airlines also offers links between the two countries with twice weekly flights to Frankfurt from Jeddah and Riyadh.