Saudia to resume flights to Athens after over 10 years, to start Marrakesh route

Saudi Arabian Airlines (Saudia) has announced plans to resume direct flights to Athens and also launch services to Marrakesh this June.

Both flights will be standalone routes, operated nonstop and direct from Saudi, a statement said.

The airline is resuming Greece’s capital after services discontinued in 2008.

“The destination will provide an additional link for holiday makers and business traffic, starting first with a Riyadh to Athens nonstop service, which later in the year will become a Jeddah-Athens service,” the statement said.

The Riyadh-Athens route will be operated with an Airbus A320 in a two-class configuration. It will be operated four times weekly on Mondays, Wednesdays, Fridays and Sundays.

From June 5, flight SV 0191 will depart from Riyadh at 9.35am and arrive in Athens at 1.35pm. The return flight SV 0192 will leave the Greek capital at 3.15pm and arrive in the Saudi capital at 7.10pm.

Meanwhile the Jeddah-Marrakesh route, set to begin on June 6, will be operated with a Boeing 787 Dreamliner, with 24 seats in business class and 274 in economy class.

It will be operated three times weekly, on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays.

Flight SV 0371 will depart from Jeddah at 3.05am, landing the Moroccan city at 7.55am. The return flight SV 0370 will depart from Marrakesh at 10.45am and arrive in the Saudi city at 7pm.

Saudia currently flies regular scheduled services to Casablanca, and Marrakesh is the carrier’s second destination in Morocco.

Last year the airline flew more than 34 million passengers, and introduced five new routes to its network including Vienna (Austria), Trivandrum (India), Surabaya (Indonesia), Medan (Indonesia).

It also re-introduced flights to Cochin, India, and operated three seasonal routes to Izmir, Malaga and Moscow.

Currently, the Saudi airline flies to 95 destinations worldwide, with a fleet of more than 160 narrow and widebody Airbus and Boeing aircraft.