New Saudi Arabian national carrier Riyadh Air aims to make a decision in the first half of next year on a further widebody aircraft order, as it ponders a deal for either Airbus A350-1000s or Boeing 777X jets.
Riyadh Air announced its ambitions in March 2023 with a launch order for 39 firm 787-9s, together with options on 33 more. At the end of October, it disclosed a narrowbody aircraft order, signing for 60 Airbus A321neo jets. It is now turning its attentions to a third aircraft type.
“We are now involved in an extra-widebody campaign,” said Riyadh Air chief executive Tony Douglas, speaking at a UK Aviation Club event on 5 November. ”I think we will [make] in the early part of next year… another aircraft announcement. We need to get to 100 international cities within the first five years.”
The airline is not specifying how many aircraft the order might cover.
Riyadh Air is targeting the launch of flights next year. However, amid widespread delivery delays at Boeing, it is still to unveil its initial network or a precise launch date.
”Aircraft is always the principle issue, because we cannot operate until we’ve taken delivery of our first three aircraft,” Douglas says, adding that only with three or more aircraft will the carrier ”will be up and running and in the game”.
”We will get deliveries of widebodies from Boeing next year – that remains the plan,” he says.
Douglas says the carrier has passed a key milestone in shaping its network. ”I’m absolutely delighted [that] a few weeks ago we completed all the flying elements of the [air operator certificate]. What that enables then is the application process for the slots, and planning how that network plays out next year.”
While Riyadh Air expects to begin taking Dreamliners in 2025, deliveries of its newly-ordered A321neos – for which it is still to announce an engine selection – are to begin the following year.
”We will starting taking delivery in the second half of 2026, and that will be 60 aircraft through the end of 2030,” Douglas says.
