Saudia's story starts in 1945. US President Franklin D. Roosevelt gave King Abdulaziz Al Saud a twin-engine Douglas DC-3 as a gift. The two leaders had just held a historic meeting aboard the American warship USS Quincy. That single plane became the seed of Saudi Arabian Airlines. The company began scheduled flights in 1947, linking Jeddah, Riyadh, and Dhahran. Oil money and pilgrim traffic soon drove fast growth.
In the jet age Saudia became the largest airline in the Middle East. It added Boeing 707s, TriStars, and 747s. Jeddah turned into the gateway for millions of Hajj and Umrah pilgrims, people who travel for religious reasons. Every year the airline still runs one of the world's largest civilian airlifts for the Hajj. It rents extra planes to move hundreds of thousands of pilgrims in only a few weeks.
In 2012 the company took back its shorter name, Saudia. That same year it joined SkyTeam, an alliance of airlines that work together, as the group's first Gulf member. Saudi Arabia's Vision 2030 plan now drives a quick makeover, with big Airbus A321neo and Boeing 787 orders, a new livery, and a Jeddah focus. New state carrier Riyadh Air is a sister project, not a replacement.