Saudi Arabia will test flying cars and drones this year during the Hajj season. According to Saleh Al-Jasser, the minister of transport and logistics services. Al-Jasser told Al Arabiya that there will be a lot of competition among transportation companies in the coming years to come up with useful solutions.
Al-Jasser said that even though the sector is slowly growing. It was still important for the ministry to learn about these new tools and figure out how to best use them. He stressed that Saudi Arabia should be the one to lead the way in implementing these services, especially during the Hajj season to make sure they are present enough.
This morning, Saudi Arabian Airlines announced that it plans to use flying taxis to take tourists from King Abdulaziz International Airport in Jeddah to hotels in Makkah. For this reason, Saudi Arabia wants to buy about 100 planes.
According to Abdullah Al Shahrani, Director of Corporate Communications and Spokesman for the Saudia Group, plans are being made to add air taxis as a new way to get around during the Hajj season. Saudia Group has signed a deal to buy 100 Lilium Jets, which are German electric vertical take-off and landing (VTOL) planes that will fly between hotels in Makkah and approved airstrips near Jeddah Airport. They have been taken from holy places like the area around Masjid al-Haram.
The fact that the Lelium is one of the first electric-only airplanes was emphasized by Al-Shahrani. After all the details are worked out, these planes will take Muslims on Hajj and Umrah trips from King Abdulaziz International Airport in Jeddah to the airstrips near the Grand Mosque in Makkah. Air taxis, which are small and can make short flights on occasion, look like a good way to make transportation more efficient.
