Saudi Arabian Airlines on path to Sky Team alliance

Details of the new codeshare between Saudi Arabian Airlines and Air France- KLM were revealed earlier this week in Jeddah. It will take effect in January.

The move allows Air France to  increase frequency to  both Riyadh and Jeddah to offer a daily service to and from Paris.  Both Saudi cities will be served three times weekly by an Air France A330 and by a Saudi Arabian Airlines A320 on the other four days.

Additionally services from Jeddah to Djibouti on Air France will be increased from one weekly flight to three  weekly flights.

Saudi Arabian would by the first of the GCC airlines to gain a place in one of the world's three major alliances. Sources close to the airline say it could take two years for alliance membership to happen and the codeshare is only a first step.

Royal Jordanian airlines is already a member of the One World Alliance while EgyptAir iand Turkish Airlines are members of the Star Alliance.

The third alliance - Sky Team - has been keen to establish a member airline from the MENA region. Saudi Arabian with its links across the region would be seen as a great achievement by the alliance.

SkyTeam celebrated its 10th anniversary in June. - fIt started in 2000 with Aeroméxico, Air France, Delta Air Lines and Korean Air, but has grown steadily with the addition of Aeroflot, Alitalia, Air Europa, China Southern, Vietnamese,  Czech Airlines, KLM and Kenya Airways.

The Sky Team network is said to serve over 460 million passengers on six continents.