Majid Khan, the new head of the Saudi Air Connectivity Program, is confident he can help the country in its mission to increase inbound traffic. Mark Pilling reports
The Saudi Air Connectivity Program (ACP) is a key tool the Kingdom’s Ministry of Tourism is deploying to help meet its ambitious target of attracting 150 million visitors by 2030.
Leadership of the ACP passed to Majid Khan in January, with the network development executive arriving from a successful four-year stint spearheading Istanbul Airport’s swift rise as a global connector.
Khan is undoubtedly taking on the most challenging role of his career, becoming one of the many senior aviation industry imports working on satisfying Saudi Arabia’s new-found desire to boost inbound tourism as part of the oil-rich country’s Vision 2030 to diversify its economy.
“I was attracted to this challenge because Saudi Arabia is a sleeping tiger,” Khan told ARGS during Routes Asia in Langkawi, Malaysia. “It’s an untouched market and I believe the potential of tourism is massive in Saudi Arabia.”
Formed in 2021 as part of Vision 2030, ACP is “a unique and dynamic initiative, responsible for boosting air connectivity in Saudi Arabia and working alongside both the tourism and the aviation ecosystem to turn the Kingdom into a global aviation hub”, Khan said in a LinkedIn post.
It will leverage the Kingdom’s strategic geographic location, formidable aviation market and rich tourism offering, he added.
But why does the country and its network of 29 airports need such a body? In other countries airports work intimately with tourism and destination marketing bodies to develop routes, but rarely establish a separate entity to do the job.
Part of the reason is the scale of the task, in addition to the aggressive timelines: everyone must rally behind achieving the eye-watering 150 million target in just seven years.
“The reason the ACP was created was to get the whole ecosystem together,” explained Khan. This includes Visit Saudi, airports and airlines. “We support route development for the 29 airports with the focus on boosting inbound tourism. We are not talking about Umrah [pilgrimage] traffic here, but pure leisure.”
A new destination
Khan has quickly realised that education is a big part of ACP’s job at this stage.
“Many people do not have enough understanding about the Saudi Arabian tourism market. People still think it’s desert, it’s oil and you only fly to Saudi Arabia because you must,” he said. “What we are trying to create is the understanding that Saudi Arabia is not an alternative but a new tourism destination to what you see in Europe, Asia, or North America.
“ACP was established to simply get the airlines for the whole country,” he added.
Luring airlines means much more than simply throwing incentives at them. “There was a perception in the market that we only provide incentives. This is something I want to get away from and instead promote the market,” said Khan.
“Incentives are one of the enablers [to develop new routes], but are not sustainable in the long run,” he pointed out.
What is sustainable is an attractive tourism product. Saudi Arabia has a way to go on this front, but is working fast to develop its leisure offering and promote its existing destinations.
“This is about educating people about what there is to do in Riyadh, what can be done in Medina besides the pilgrimage, about the winter destinations and the potential for cruises,” said Khan. “Then there’s the Red Sea, which is the new Maldives.
“Together with our partners in Saudi Arabia’s tourism and aviation sectors, we are developing initiatives to cater to Asian travellers,” Khan continued. This includes its “China-Friendly” products, such as Mandarin language signs, hot water dispensers, dedicated gates, check-in counters, and WeChat Pay, all provided in collaboration with partner airports.
While flag carrier Saudia, Riyadh Air when it begins operations, and other national airlines, are important partners for ACP, it will not support routes that are predominantly outbound markets, said Khan.
ACP has already supported several new routes including Jeddah to Brussels; Jeddah to Bishkek, the capital of Kyrgyzstan (all flynas); Warsaw-Riyadh (LOT); and Beijing to Jeddah and Riyadh (Hainan Airlines).
And there are plenty to come. Khan’s route targets are widespread and include more service to China, Korea and Japan, destinations in south-east Asia and point-to-point service to cities in Europe with the focus on hub players and low-cost operators.
One of the aims is to develop networks out of Riyadh and Jeddah that offer direct service to the country’s 32-million-strong population. Today many travelling to rival regional hubs such as Dubai and Doha for their longer-haul services.
Already in the first quarter of 2024, ACP has confirmed several new airline routes: China Southern Airlines will begin operations from Shenzhen and Beijing to Riyadh; China Eastern Airlines will introduce flights from Shanghai to Riyadh; ITA Airways has confirmed routes from Rome to Jeddah and Riyadh; and Eurowings will launch flights from Berlin and Cologne to Jeddah.
Customer service
One of Khan’s aims is for passenger service levels to rise right across the Kingdom’s air transport ecosystem, a mission that was to the fore at his previous employer in Turkey.
It is important to send a message to all stakeholders of the need for customer service training that recognises the difference in service expectations of, say, European travellers compared to those from Africa or the Middle East, he said. In general, the former may be satisfied with a digital customer experience, whereas the latter prefer a more personal touch.
“I think that’s a big task and I personally think this is directly linked to air connectivity because it can decide whether airlines can have a profitable business or not,” he explained.
“I believe that one of my jobs is that whenever we get a new airline, we explain to all the stakeholders that this is the type of passenger that is going to arrive with that specific airline and this is how you need to treat them,” said Khan.
Plus: “I always say there are two people who can make or break your day when you arrive at an airport: immigration or the taxi drivers,” he added.
The size of the traffic target in Saudi Arabia has led some commentators to doubt if it is doable. But Khan is undaunted. “I think I can deliver that,” he said. “I’m very aggressive in my approach in terms of delivering the results. That’s why I’m here.”
Certainly, from being virtually dormant just a few years ago, Saudi Arabia has burst into life as an air travel and tourism story. It will be fascinating to watch how executives like Khan fare as they rouse this sleeping tiger.
