Saudi Arabia to Allow Foreign Operators to Conduct Domestic Flights

The General Authority of Civil Aviation (GACA) has announced that from May 1st, 2025, foreign charter operators will be able to apply for permission to operate domestic flights. The policy will also remove cabotage restrictions on foreign on-demand charter flights in the kingdom. 

Previously, cabotage restrictions prevented foreign charter operators from conducting domestic flights within Saudi, and meant that international business jets could land in the country, but not travel between internal destinations.

In addition to this new policy, GACA also announced the establishment of a General Aviation Sector Development Committee, which will engage in infrastructure planning and regulatory processes to enhance Saudi’s general aviation sector value, in accordance with its vision of becoming a key aviation hub.

This new decision also follows the launch of GACA’s ‘General Aviation Roadmap’ during the Future Aviation Forum in May 2024, which focuses on developing the general aviation sector into a USD 2 billion industry by 2030. The roadmap envisions the creation of six specialised business aviation airports and a further nine specialised business aviation terminals, and will also raise the number of business aviation fixed-base operators and maintenance, repair and overhaul capacity for business jets.