| Airline: | Sama |
| Fleet Size: | 6 |
| Destinations: | 10 (upon closure) |
| Iata: | ZS |
| Icao: | SMY |
| Callsign: | NAJIM |
| Parent: | Investment Enterprises Ltd |
| Founded: | 2007 |
| Ceased: | 24 August 2010 |
| Bases: | |
| Headquarters: | Dammam, Saudi Arabia |
| Key People: | Bandar bin Khalid Al Faisal (Chairman) Bruce Ashby (CEO) |
Sama LelTayaran Company Limited, operating as Sama, was a Saudi low-cost airline based at King Fahad International Airport in Dammam, operating scheduled flights within Saudi Arabia and the Middle East. The airline's registered address was in Riyadh.[1] [2]
Sama was founded in March 2007 by Investment Enterprises Ltd, chaired by Bandar bin Khalid Al Faisal. Initial investment was received from 30 major Saudi private and institutional investors including Olayan Financial Co, Xenel Industries Ltd, Saudi Industrial Services Co, Sara Development Company Ltd and Modern Investment Company for Trade and Industries. The airline initially focused on domestic flights, then added international destinations during 2008. Another major restructuring occurred during 2009, when the airline's timetables were optimized towards high aircraft utilization in an attempt to improve the financial results of the company (which also saw unprofitable routes being dropped, and frequencies for successful destinations being increased).
On 24 August 2010, the airline was forced to shut down because of budgetary constraints arising out of poor funding, which had resulted in a 266 million U.S. dollar loss.[3] [4]
Sama Airlines served the following destinations (as of February 2010):[5]
During its time of operation the airline operated the following aircraft:[6]