Saudi Arabia just banned Uber, Careem from doing airport pickups

Saudi Arabia's airport pickups just became less convenient, as ride-hailing apps Uber and Careem have been banned from picking up passengers at the airport. 

Private drivers have long been barred from "offering their cars for hire" to arriving passengers at the airport. It is considered a traffic violation under Saudi law, according to the General Directorate of Traffic. 

The ride-sharing apps have been operating around the law for quite some time, but spokesperson for the General Directorate Tareq Al-Rubaiaan announced in a statement that the ride-sharing apps will be punished if operations continue. 

The airport is under the jurisdiction of the General Authority of Civil Aviation (GACA), which means airports must abide by the already set rules of taxi services. 

Earlier in 2016, Saudi Arabia invested $3.5 billion of its sovereign wealth fund in Uber. 

The investment came as part of Uber's most recent financing round, bringing the companies value to $63.5 billion - making it the most highly valued venture capital-backed company in the entire world. 

Saudi's investment brought the company's total balance sheet to more than $11 billion, including cash and debt, according to Uber.

Social media users quickly criticized the kingdom for not investing in regional ride-sharing service Careem. 

Soon after, the kingdom's state-owned Saudi Telecom Company (STC) invested $350 million in Careem, an investment also backed by Japanese Internet firm Rakuten. 

Following the investment, the Saudi Telecom gained a 10% ownership in Careem. 

The investments came as part of the kingdom's Vision 2030 economic reform plan, which sets to increase the number of women participating in the workforce. 

Considering that women in Saudi Arabia are not allowed to drive, ride-sharing apps have been their convenient go-to method of transportation.

In November, the Ministry of Transportation urged Uber and Careem to “limit the jobs to Saudi nationals.”

Careem aims to employ 70,000 Saudis by the end of 2017. 

"The percentage of Careem captains who are Saudi has jumped from effectively zero to 60 percent in the last 12 months, and we aim to employ 70,000 Saudis by end 2017,” said Abdullah Elyas, co-founder of Careem, according to Al Arabiya. 

This wouldn't be the first time a Gulf country has seen its services put to a halt. 

Earlier in 2016, Uber and Careem suspended their services in Abu Dhabi after as many as 50 limousine drivers were detained. 

While the two companies are popularly known as taxi services, in the UAE they are actually restricted to contracting out rides to licensed private limousine services. 

The services must follow the rates for limousine services – which are set higher than official taxi services.