Saudi Arabia considering to open military airspace
The Saudi
General Authority for Civil Aviation (GACA) is in talks with the Royal
Saudi Air Force to open military airspace to allow civilian traffic to
transit through it.
This was
reported by Arabian Gulf Business Insight.
"There
are multiple projects ongoing to redesign the air capacity and air corridors.
We are trying to resolve restrictions as well as applying the latest
technologies and radar information systems to shorten the trip time, open new
corridors, and increase capacity. We will announce the outcome once it's
completed," GACA Vice-President (Strategy and Business Intelligence)
Mohammed Alkhuraisi said.
Riyadh is
currently focusing on aviation industry during its push to pivot away from reliance
on fossil fuels. As a part of the strategy, Saudi Arabia is developing a
second flag carrier, RIA (Saudi Arabia), and is evaluating a third one to
serve the future linear city of Neom. The country is also welcoming other
strategic investments, attracting Wizz Air to set up a local unit. In addition, the country removed all restrictions on
foreign carriers traversing its airspace, effectively permitting flights to and
from Israel to overfly it despite the lack of recognition of the country.
However, 44%
of Saudi airspace is currently restricted to military operations only.
Source: https://www.ch-aviation.com/