New Flights to Saudi Arabia From Atlanta in the Offing? 

Atlanta could soon gain new flights to Saudi Arabia through one of Delta Air Lines Inc.’s announced partnerships with two airlines in the country.

Delta in July inked a codeshare and interline agreement with Riyadh Air, an upstart airline planning to operate its first flight in 2025. 

The agreement, Delta said at the time, is the first tentative step toward a potential joint venture and would include a new nonstop flight between the Saudi capital and the U.S., though the Atlanta-based carrier stopped short of saying which hub would be used for that future flight. 

This week, it’s Jeddah, an economic hub on the Red Sea, that is rumored to be in the running for an Atlanta route. 

Airline points and loyalty websites are reporting that Saudia, the national flag carrier of Saudi Arabia, may be eyeing flights from Jeddah to Atlanta after starting a Delta codeshare in October that the airlines said would expand customers’ access to the U.S. and Saudi Arabia, respectively. 

As the basis for the rumors, the reports cite a slot application outlined by Airport Coordination Limited, a company that manages capacity for many airports around the world. The application is for 240 movements per year, which would amount to a frequency of nearly five times weekly. Independent analysts have said that Delta didn’t apply, which would leave Saudia as the only option.

Saudia is the only Saudi carrier to fly to the U.S. By this summer, it will offer 17 weekly frequencies to five cities (not including the rumored Atlanta flight): Jeddah to Washington, New York, Los Angeles and Riyadh to Washington and New York, according to Simple Flying. 

Atlanta does not have a large Arab diaspora relative to other cities, nor does it have the strong commercial (oil and gas) and consular links of cities like Houston. But Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport serves travelers from all over the Southeast U.S., including the region’s growing Muslim community, and Jeddah is the entry point for the Hajj, the Islamic pilgrimage to Mecca, for which the city’s airport has a special terminal. In 2023, about 1.8 million people performed the Hajj.