Clipped wings still fly • Chapter summary
As with the wider transport sector, Saudi Arabia’s aviation capabilities was significantly limited over the course of the pandemic. The sector, which still is largely state owned, was instead given an opportunity to carry out much-needed renovation of outdated processes and digitizing services. And whilst international travel was almost completely cut, in line with government restrictions, aviation services were nonetheless driven on, in the words of Fahd Cyndy, CEO of Saudia Aerospace Engineering Industries (SAEI), “by a massive domestic market and a vibrant nation.”
Focusing on the domestic market is a trend echoed in the transportation sector. As was common globally, the aviation sector lent a hand to the flying of cargo and offered logistical assistance. Fahad Al Harbi, CEO of Dammam Airport Company (DACO), makes the point that, “flying medicines, vaccines, and food,” highlights how the sector got stuck into the national effort against the pandemic.
Perhaps more pertinently for the future of the industry, however, was the process of looking inward to refocus and reorganize. The pandemic, in effect, served as a moment of pause for an industry that is usually unrelentingly active. Again, Cyndy articulates this point, underscoring the point that, at SAEI, they were “focused on making sure we have a clear pipeline of talent and skilled labor.” The priority therefore was to look to at human capital as a worthwhile investment for a renewed, internally re-invigored industry post-pandemic.
Up till now, the sector has mostly been dominated by a focus in line with the Vision 2030. Early this year, Saudi Arabia’s General Authority of Civil Aviation launched an initiative to Saudize 28 professions in the air transport sector, thereby creating 10,000 jobs for locals. This effort is very much in line with Vision 2030, yet also comes after a year of much needed reorganization. For a sector infamous for problems with budgets and bureaucracy, these reforms come at a welcome time. With vaccination drives well under way in much of the region and indeed the rest of the world, the efforts of these reforms will likely bear fruit over the next few years.