Riyadh Air Receives First Boeing 787s Years Behind Schedule, Plans July 1 Launch Amid Regional Conflict
Saudi Arabia’s new national carrier received its initial Dreamliners on Friday and opened bookings for its first commercial route to London Heathrow.
nypost.comRiyadh Air took delivery of its first two Boeing 787 Dreamliners on Friday. The aircraft will form the initial backbone of a fleet the airline expects to grow to 72 Dreamliners serving more than 100 destinations by 2030. The carrier plans to begin commercial flights on July 1 with an inaugural route to London Heathrow, for which it has already opened bookings.
It conducted a non-commercial inaugural flight in October using a leased Boeing 787-9 to carry employees to London. On Thursday the airline signed a partnership agreement with Air India covering future codeshare and interline connections between India, Saudi Arabia and onward destinations.
The first liveried Riyadh Air Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner was unveiled at King Khaled International Airport in Riyadh on June 12, 2023.
Riyadh Air was unveiled in 2023 and placed a multibillion-dollar Boeing order that ranked among the manufacturer’s largest. The airline is owned by Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund and originally expected to begin receiving 787s in 2025. Aircraft delivery delays pushed the timeline back, leaving Riyadh Air to enter service amid regional aviation disruptions tied to the US-Israel-Iran war.
CEO Tony Douglas said in an interview with the Telegraph last month that Riyadh had emerged as a relatively stable transit point during the conflict. The carrier’s launch forms part of Saudi Arabia’s Vision 2030 strategy, which aims to attract 150 million visitors annually and prepare the kingdom to host the 2034 FIFA World Cup.
Riyadh Air was conceived during a post-pandemic aviation boom when Gulf carriers were expanding routes and Saudi Arabia was investing heavily in tourism and aviation infrastructure.
