By sector Tour operators & agencies

In Ramadan, everybody needs coaches and nobody has any.

That is the whole problem, and it is a calendar problem rather than a transport one. Demand arrives in two enormous spikes and disappears between them, so capacity booked movement by movement is cheap when you do not need it and unobtainable when you do. An allocation is simply capacity held for you before the rush, drawn down against your manifests as the season runs.

Discuss an allocation See what it costs

Capacity held, not hoped for
One coordinator all season
We never sell to your pilgrims

This sector at a glance

Shape: Coaches reserved for a season, drawn down on manifests
Who for: Umrah and Hajj operators, agencies, DMCs, hotel groups
Vehicles: Up to 49 seats, matched fleets for large arrivals
From: About SAR 1,100 a movement against a SAR 1,800 spot fare
Cover: Reserve coaches staged, 60-minute replacement target
Boundary: We move pilgrims. We do not sell to them, ever

Send your season forecast and the corridors you run — a costed allocation comes back within one working day.

Request an allocation

The shape of an allocation

The clock on this one runs in months.

Every other contract we run is measured in hours. An allocation is measured across a season, and almost all of the value is created in the months before a single pilgrim arrives.

6 months out The allocation is agreed
You give us a forecast — corridors, rough volumes, the weeks that matter. We reserve coaches against it and hold them out of the open market. This is the month that decides whether you have vehicles in Ramadan.
8 weeks out Manifests firm up
Group by group: arrival flights, hotels, headcounts, the corridors each one needs. Vehicles and drivers are named against each movement, and anything that will not work is flagged now rather than on the day.
Where problems get found early
The season Daily drawdown
Movements run against the allocation with one coordinator holding your whole programme. Changes inside 72 hours are normal in this business and handled rather than penalised.
One desk, every movement
After Reconciliation and release
One statement showing every movement against the allocation, what was drawn, what was released and what is owed. Then next season's forecast, which is easier because you now have real numbers.

The honest catch, stated first

An allocation you do not use still costs, because a coach reserved for you is a coach we turned other work away for. That is the trade: certainty in exchange for commitment. Below roughly twelve movements a month you are almost always better off booking at published fares, and we will say so before you sign. Release windows are written into every allocation so a season that comes in light does not become a season that hurts.

The four ways operators solve this

Honestly compared, including booking nothing at all.

Most operators have tried at least two of these. Here they are side by side with what each actually costs you in a bad week, including the cases where an allocation is the wrong instrument.

Book movement by movement

Spot rates, as you go

Cost: Cheapest out of season. In Ramadan you pay whatever is left, if anything is.
Admin: Constant. Every group is a fresh negotiation with whoever answers.
When it fails: Forty pilgrims land and there is no coach, and your name is on the itinerary.
Who carries it: You, in front of your own client.

Genuinely right below about a dozen movements a month.

Spread across operators

Three suppliers, hedge the risk

Cost: Competitive, because they know they are being compared. You pay in coordination instead.
Admin: Three contacts, three invoices, three standards, and no single version of the truth.
When it fails: Each supplier explains why it was one of the others' movement.
Who carries it: You, and your pilgrims experience three different companies.

Sensible as a hedge on the largest programmes. Exhausting as a default.

Own the coaches

Buy the fleet yourself

Cost: Capital sitting idle for most of the year, plus drivers, depot and workshop.
Admin: A transport company inside a travel company, with its own permits and rosters.
When it fails: You are also the operator, so the problem has nowhere to go.
Who carries it: You — and the depreciation through eight quiet months.

Works for the very largest operators with year-round volume.

A held allocation

Capacity reserved, drawn on manifests

Cost: A reserved rate for the season, around SAR 1,100 a movement against SAR 1,800 spot.
Admin: One coordinator, one account, one invoice a month, movement by movement.
When it fails: Reserve coaches are staged near your movements; replacement target 60 minutes.
Who carries it: Us — permits, insurance, crewing, maintenance and cover.

The answer once your season is predictable enough to forecast.

Most operators end up running two of these

An allocation covering the volume you are confident of, and published fares for the overflow. That is a perfectly good answer and we will quote it that way without pretending you should hold more than you need. An allocation sized to your optimistic forecast is a bad trade for you and, in the long run, a bad client for us.

What your programme needs

Find your band, read across.

Indicative figures for in-season months, based on 49-seat coaches on the Makkah–Madinah and Jeddah airport corridors. The comparison throughout is our own published spot fare of SAR 1,800 for that movement, so you can see exactly what the commitment buys.

Up to 20movements a month

Held
1 coach
From, per month
SAR 22,000
Effective per movement
About SAR 1,100 · spot is 1,800
Note
Below twelve movements a month, published fares beat this. We will tell you.
21 to 60movements a month

Held
3 coaches
From, per month
SAR 60,000
Effective per movement
About SAR 1,000
Note
The commonest allocation. Enough to absorb a double arrival day.
61 to 150movements a month

Held
6–8 coaches plus a staged reserve
From, per month
SAR 140,000
Effective per movement
About SAR 930
Note
A reserve coach stops being optional at this volume.
150 and abovemovements a month

Held
Dedicated allocation and a coordinator on your desk
From, per month
Costed per programme
Effective per movement
From about SAR 850
Note
At this scale our coordinator sits with your operations team through the season.

Smaller vehicles sit on the same basis — a 30-seat Coaster, a Hiace for a family group, a sedan for a group leader — and mixed allocations are normal. Published per-movement fares for every corridor are on Daily Corridors, and the mechanics of how an allocation is drawn down are on Tour Operator Allocations.

Before anyone signs anything

Exactly who is responsible for what.

You hold the client relationship and the programme. We hold the vehicles and the road. The line between those two is where supplier relationships in this industry usually go wrong, so here it is in the words that go into the contract.

Responsibility split on a seasonal allocation
Item	Your side	Ours
The pilgrim relationship	Yours entirely, start to finish	We never contact or sell to your pilgrims
Packages, visas and permits	Your licence, your Nusuk permits, your visas	Transport permits and vehicle authorisations only
Hotels and accommodation	You book them	We agree boarding and staging points with them
Season forecast	Give us honest volumes, not optimistic ones	Hold capacity against them and say if it is too much
Manifests	Eight weeks, then 72 hours, then final	Name vehicles and drivers against every movement
Group leaders	Yours, on every movement	Our coordinator works to them, not around them
Changes inside 72 hours	Tell us as early as you can	Re-planned without penalty where capacity allows
Unused allocation	Draw it down, or release it in the window	Release windows written into the contract
Vehicles, crews and cover	—	Reserve coaches staged; 60-minute replacement target
Invoicing	One account or PO	One monthly invoice, movement by movement, reconcilable
Escalation	One named contact in your operations team	One named coordinator through the whole season

The first two rows are the ones operators care about most, and they are the reason this page exists separately from a price list. Cover terms in full are on Standby & Replacement Cover.

The thing every operator wants to hear first

We are your supplier. We will never be your competitor.

Ask an operator what worries them about a transport company and it is rarely the price. It is handing over a manifest with four hundred names, hotels and flight numbers on it to a business that could quietly start selling packages next season. We do not sell packages, we have no intention of starting, and the reason is simple: we would lose every operator we work with, which is most of our coach business.

Your manifests stay yours
Used to run your movements and for nothing else. No marketing, no contact with your pilgrims, no approach to your hotels on our own account. It is in the contract because it should be, not because anyone asked.
Your group leader runs the group
Our coordinator works to them rather than around them. Drivers take instruction on timings from your leader on the day, and anything that cannot be done is said to them privately rather than announced to forty pilgrims.
Matched vehicles that arrive together
A group needing three coaches gets three of the same standard, leaving together and arriving together. Pilgrims comparing their bus with the one behind is a complaint you should never have to field.
Changes at 72 hours are normal here
Flights move, groups merge, a hotel changes. We plan for that rather than pricing it as a penalty, and we will tell you honestly when a change genuinely cannot be absorbed instead of accepting it and failing quietly.
One invoice you can reconcile
Movement by movement against the allocation, with your own group references carried through. Finance teams should be able to tie every line to a group without a phone call.
We say no before the season, not during it
If your forecast needs more coaches than we can hold in a Hajj window, you hear it in the month you can still do something about it. An operator finding out in Dhul Hijjah has been failed twice.

Operator questions

Asked at the start of every season.

And one or two that only get asked after a bad Ramadan with somebody else.

What is a seasonal coach allocation?

Capacity reserved for you before the season and held out of the open market, which you then draw down against your manifests as groups firm up. You are buying certainty rather than vehicles — the guarantee that in the third week of Ramadan there is a coach with your name against it.

How does it compare with booking movement by movement?

An allocation works out around SAR 1,100 per movement against our published spot fare of SAR 1,800 on the same corridor, falling towards SAR 850 on the largest programmes. The saving is real, but it only exists if you use what you hold.

What happens if we do not use the allocation?

You still pay for it, because a coach held for you is one we turned other work away for. That is the honest trade. Every allocation has release windows written into it, so a season coming in lighter than forecast can be handed back in agreed steps rather than carried in full.

When do we need to commit?

Six months before Ramadan and earlier still for Hajj. By three months out the coaches in Makkah and Madinah are largely committed, and what is left is priced accordingly. The month you enquire affects your cost more than the rate you negotiate.

Do you sell Umrah or Hajj packages yourselves?

No, and we will not. We move pilgrims for operators; we do not sell to them, market to them or approach your hotels on our own account. Your manifests are used to run your movements and nothing else. Most of our coach business comes from operators, and the day we competed with them would be the day we lost it.

What happens during Hajj week itself?

Movements around Mina, Arafat and Muzdalifah are managed centrally by the authorities, and everyone works to that season’s arrangements rather than their own plan. We say clearly what is inside our control and what is not, well before the window, rather than discovering the difference with your pilgrims aboard.

How late can we change a manifest?

Changes at 72 hours are routine in this business and we plan for them rather than pricing them as penalties. Inside that, we will do what capacity allows and tell you honestly when something cannot be absorbed — which is more useful than accepting it and failing quietly on the day.

Can you handle several groups arriving the same day?

Yes, and it is the normal shape of a season. Large groups travel on matched vehicles that leave and arrive together, and an airport coordinator works the arrivals floor alongside the drivers for anything above twelve people. Your group leaders keep control; ours works to them.

Will you sign an NDA before seeing our manifests?

Gladly, and several operators ask. Tick the box on the form and we will send one before you share anything. The confidentiality terms are in our standard allocation contract as well.

What reporting do we get?

One monthly invoice reconciled movement by movement against the allocation, carrying your own group references so finance can tie each line to a group without a phone call, plus a season statement showing what was drawn, what was released and what remains.