Dubai: State-owned Saudi Arabian Airlines, also known as Saudia, is getting a new board of directors, state news agency SPA said on Tuesday, in what is the latest shake-up in the kingdom that is trying to wean its economy away from oil.
King Salman Bin Abdul Aziz will appoint the board’s chairman whilst the cabinet, which King Salman heads, is to approve four board members from the public sector and five from the private sector, SPA said.
The report did not say when the board would be reshuffled.
Plans to reshuffle the board of the airline were announced eight days after Saudi Arabia approved the 270 billion riyal (Dh264.43 billion) 2020 National Transformation Programme.
The strategy sets out measures for the world’s biggest oil producer to cut its dependence on oil revenues and includes increasing the role of the private sector in the national economy.
Saudia has embarked on a privatisation strategy having partially listed some of its units in recent years. It plans to list other units, which could include the airline itself, director general Saleh Al Jasser said in April.
