REPUBLIKA.CO.ID, MEDAN -- Saudi Arabian Airlines has served regular direct flights between Medan in North Sumatra province and Madina in Saudi Arabia The first flight from Medan, already started on Wednesday, carried 415 passengers mostly umra pilgrims using the 450-seat Boeing 747-400 aircraft.

The second flight was on Sunday, Herry Setiawan, General Sales Agent of the airline said after the flight inauguration ceremony here on Sunday. A vice president of the airline Abdulrahman S Hajar said in the first phase the airline will serve flights twice a week -- Sunday and Wednesday.

"The full service flight of the airline which is a member of Skyteam is expected to attract passengers especially umra pilgrims," Abdulrahman said.

The airline would help facilitate the transport of Umra pilgrims from North Sumatra to Saudi Arabia, he added. There are around 3,500 Umra pilgrims from North Sumatra every month not to mention those from neighboring provinces including Aceh, West Sumatra and Riau, he said.

Saudi Airlines also has routes to Europe and the United States to facilitate transport of tourists. North Sumatra Governor H Gatot Pujo Nugroho said hajj pilgrims from North Sumatra would no longer need to transit in Jakarta, Malaysia or Singapore with the availability of direct flight between Medan and Madina. Nugroho took the occasion to invite Saudi investors to do business in North Sumatra especially in palm oil industry making use of the special economic zone of Sei Mangkei.

Director General of Air Transportation Indonesian, Pramintohan Sukarno, said the government had licensed a number of airlines such as Garuda Indonesia, Lions, Flynas as well as Saudi Arabian to transport Umra pilgrims.

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