Saudi Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman has announced the establishment of a new airline, "Riyadh Air".

The new national carrier will leverage Saudi Arabia's strategic geographic location between Asia, Africa and Europe, enabling Riyadh to become a gateway to the world and a global destination for transportation, trade, and tourism, saudigulfproject.com said on its website yesterday.

Salman, also the prime minister of the gulf nation and chairman of the Public Investment Fund (PIF), announced that the airline would be a PIF wholly-owned company.

Riyadh Air will be chaired by Yasir Al-Rumayyan, governor of PIF, while Tony Douglas, who has more than 40 years of experience in the aviation, transportation and logistics industries, has been appointed CEO.

The airline's senior management will include Saudi and international expertise.