Key Saudi sport's club under fire by Saudi airlines

Saudi Arabia’s national airlines, Saudia, has slammed one of the Gulf Kingdom’s largest sport club for their last-minute cancellation of 45 bookings on its flight to Dubai.

Saudia said its flight 554 en route from Riyadh to Dubai on Sunday had to take off with 45 empty seats after Al Hilal Club cancelled bookings for their players, who later flew to the emirate on board another carrier.

“What they did amounts to a violation of rules and non-respect of others. This only deprived other passengers from travelling,” a Saudia source said, quoted by the Saudi Arabic language daily Sabq.

“Unfortunately, they cancelled the bookings just an hour before take off without any reason. We will contact the concerned authorities about this behavior which hurts the reputation of the country’s national carrier.”

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