Given all that’s going on in the Middle East, it is perhaps a bit insensitive to examine Saudia’s longest routes. That said, Saudi Arabia’s airspace remains open, and the airline is seemingly operating more or less normally.

OAG data for 2026 shows that Saudia is the Middle East’s largest operator by flights. And this is before its low-cost unit, Flyadeal, is included. Of course, Saudia’s prominence is only because of its domestic network. When international services are considered, some of which will be on its upcoming Airbus A321XLRs, it only ranks sixth. Like the new operator Riyadh Air, Saudia’s ambition for the future is big.

Saudia’s Ten Longest Nonstop Flights

Credit: GCMap

Emphasis on nonstop is deliberate. The carrier’s one-stop services, such as Jeddah to Bali via Singapore and Jeddah to Beijing Daxing via Dammam, are excluded. This helps to make the comparison more fair.

Some might wonder why ‘ultra-long-haul’ was used in the title, especially given that only one entry—Jeddah to Los Angeles—really meets the criteria. This is to ensure consistency with other articles, which recently included a look at the longest flights operated by Singapore Airlines and Emirates.

Saudia From Jeddah To Los Angeles

Credit: Vincenzo Pace

The Saudi flag carrier’s debut in Los Angeles took place eight years ago, in March 2014. For several years, flights routed Riyadh-Jeddah-Los Angeles and vice versa. However, they have since been served on a simplified standalone basis, i.e., Jeddah-Los Angeles-Jeddah. Passengers can change planes in the coastal city to reach the capital.

Between 2014 and the end of November 2025, the US Department of Transportation shows that it has carried 568,000 round-trip passengers, which might not seem like a lot. Surprisingly or not, it only filled 64.9% of seats in this period.

The best years to date were 2024 (73.8%) and 2025 (72.9%; the first 11 months only). Generally, February and March, in particular, drag down the results, although November does too at times. For many airlines, February and November are the worst months for traffic.

While the load factor is just one measure and should not be considered in isolation, the overall results in this sense were not great. And as EgyptAir will commence nonstop Cairo-Los Angeles flights in 2026, some of Saudia’s core market targets will have additional competition.

Related

Revealed: The US’s 10 Most Popular Long-Haul Routes Without Nonstop Flights

How many of them might have regular nonstop flights in the future?!

Where Saudia’s Los Angeles Passengers Went

Credit: Vincenzo Pace

Between January and November 2025, the DOT indicates that Saudia carried 45,992 round-trip passengers to/from Los Angeles. It was the airline’s second-lowest-traffic North American route, after Riyadh to Washington Dulles (45,057).

Booking data suggests that its Los Angeles route, which is not among the world’s longest nonstop services, has a reasonable mixture of passengers. An estimated 39% of passengers transferred to another flight in Jeddah, with Cairo, Riyadh, Jizan, Dubai, and Dhaka being the top five segments.

Another 37% were point-to-point (they only flew Jeddah-Los Angeles-Jeddah, including students and those on pilgrimage). Some 22% of those flying connected to another service in Los Angeles, including with fellow SkyTeam member Delta Air Lines; Jeddah-San Francisco was the leading market. The final 2% of the traffic transited to another service in Los Angeles and Jeddah.