Saudi Arabia

Factsheet

• Capital: Riyadh

• Population estimate, 2015: 31.54 m.

• GNI per capita, 2014: (PPP$) 52,821

• HDI/world rank, 2014: 0.837/39

• Internet domain extension: .sa

Civil Aviation

The national carrier is the part-privatized Saudi Arabian Airlines, which in 2006 owned 139 aircraft and served 76 destinations. In 2005 scheduled airline traffic of Saudi-based carriers flew 117.1 m. km and carried 11,126,300 passengers. There are four major international airports, at Jeddah (King Abdulaziz), Dhahran, Riyadh (King Khaled) and Dammam (King Fahd). There are also 23 domestic airports. Jeddah handled 25,785,463 passengers in 2012 (17,547,530 on international flights) and 265,629 tonnes of freight in 2011. Riyadh was the second busiest airport in 2012, handling 17,690,764 passengers (8,720,576 on domestic flights) and 305,943 tonnes of freight.

Climate

A desert climate, with very little rain and none at all from June to Dec. The months May to Sept. are very hot and humid, but winter temperatures are...