Saudi aviation regulator grants Jetex licence for Red Sea airport operations

Saudi approval supports private aviation at the Red Sea destination

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Red Sea International airport
Red Sea International Airport
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Dubai: Jetex secured a license from Saudi Arabia's General Authority of Civil Aviation to provide ground handling and business aviation services at Red Sea International Airport. The approval, announced with Red Sea International Airport during the Supply Chain & Logistics Conference 2025 in Riyadh.

The license lets Jetex roll out full private aviation support at the gateway to the Red Sea luxury destination. It aligns with Saudi Arabia's aviation push, with recent rules welcoming more international operators amid rising demand for private flights.

“The issuance of this license reflects the continued growth of general aviation at Red Sea International Airport and its expanding role in supporting premium tourism at The Red Sea destination,” said Awad Alsulami, Executive Vice President of GACA. “By enabling high-quality ground handling services at this airport, GACA is strengthening private aviation infrastructure to meet rising demand and to support Saudi Arabia’s emerging luxury destinations in line with Vision 2030.”

GACA enforces safety, quality and compliance as the national regulator, fostering qualified global players while advancing the sector.

“Receiving approval from GACA to operate at Red Sea International Airport is a significant milestone for Jetex in Saudi Arabia,” said Adel Mardini, Founder and CEO of Jetex. “This license allows us to support The Red Sea destination with our private aviation services, and we are proud to collaborate with GACA and Red Sea International Airport in advancing Vision 2030.”

Nivetha Dayanand is Assistant Business Editor at Gulf News, covering aviation, financial markets and commodities. A business and financial journalist with a strong interest in multimedia storytelling, she regularly takes complex financial and economic subjects beyond the written word, producing explainer videos that make them easier for a wider audience to understand. Nivetha has interviewed senior policymakers, business leaders and global financial figures both on and off camera. Her past guests include UAE Minister of Economy and Tourism Abdulla bin Touq Al Marri, Khaled bin Alwaleed Al Saud, a member of the House of Saud and the founder and CEO of KBW Ventures, Jihad Azour, Director of the Middle East and Central Asia Department at the International Monetary Fund and Indian ministers Hardeep Singh Puri and N. Chandrababu Naidu. She has also hosted and moderated panels, conferences and awards shows, bringing her newsroom experience to live conversations on business, finance and the economy. An Erasmus Mundus journalism alum, Nivetha is drawn to stories that affect people directly and to reporting that gives a platform to voices that might otherwise go unheard. She was among the first journalists to speak to Petrofac employees in the UAE about unpaid salaries, broke the news of the planned demolition of Dubai’s well-known “Toyota Building”, and helped set the record straight on widely circulated claims that a giant replica of the Moon was coming to Dubai. More recently, her exclusive interview with EDGE Group CEO Hamad Al Marar revealed how the UAE-based defence group deployed its systems along the country’s shore border and established a geofence around the UAE within 48 hours of the February 28 escalation. Prior to joining Gulf News, Nivetha worked at ITP Media, where she helped launch Finance Middle East, a new publication covering the region’s financial sector. Her role spanned reporting and editing, video production, interviews and events. Across print, digital, and video, she focuses on finding the people behind business stories and explaining why those stories matter to the audience reading or watching them.

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