Overview - Sama

Sama – the Middle East’s newest LCC

The company, founded by Prince Bandar bin Khalid al Faisal in 2005, conducted its maiden flight on 18-Mar-07.

Former finance director of British Airways LCC subsidiary Go, Andrew Cowen, leads Sama, whose name means, “to soar” in Arabic. The airline is based in Dammam, an eastern city of 2 million that is the capital of the Kingdom’s main oil-producing region, and which is located across the causeway from Bahrain. Its destinations thus far are Jeddah, Riyadh, Median and Jizan.

The carrier operates four B737-300s, and its fleet plan calls for the addition of four or five units of the same model in 2008, with an ultimate fleet of 35 of the vintage type (all leased) by 2010. To help fund the expansion, Sama plans a partial listing at some point in 2008.

Sama recognises it is faced with numerous difficulties in applying the low cost model in the strictly governed Kingdom. The operational conditions – extreme temperatures, high altitudes and engine-clogging sand – afflict all carriers serving the country, but promise to be especially burdensome for a business that requires asset reliability and intensive utilisation rates.

Overall, the domestic market is large enough to sustain a smaller Sama operation until the promising international market is an allowed target from 2009.

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