LONDON—New Saudi Arabian flag-carrier Riyadh Air aims to build a “virtual network” with partner airlines in the early stages of its development.
The airline, which is scheduled to start services in early 2025, has attracted “massive interest from other airlines around the world,” Chief Commercial Officer Vincent Coste said Nov. 6.
Speaking on the sidelines of the World Travel Market exhibition in London, Coste said that as Riyadh Air ramps up its operations, “We definitely need to establish strong relationships on other continents and have received very warm responses from big carriers in Asia, Europe, the [Middle East] region and the Americas. We will need those strong partnerships to develop a ‘virtual network’ ... destinations that we operate through codeshares without physically flying to, at least in the beginning.”
Although the company is looking far afield for compatible carriers, “Saudia will definitely be our first partner,” Coste said. “The two national carriers will definitely work together.”
While Riyadh Air is looking to have a global network of 100 destinations by the end of the decade, it will not operate direct international flights from other Saudi cities, only Riyadh, Coste said. Services to and from regional cities will connect through Riyadh.
Serving those cities will require a narrowbody fleet. “We’re pretty much there” in making an announcement on whether the requisite order will go to Boeing or Airbus, Coste said. “We have some internal governance procedures to follow [but] I would say within the coming weeks, we’ll be in a position to announce that.”
Some Saudi Arabian aviation officials have said that the narrowbody order will be followed by one for cargo aircraft, but Coste said that a decision on whether to acquire dedicated freighters is still up in the air.
Riyadh Air has 72 Boeing 787s on order or option and those have more than 20 tons of underfloor capacity, he noted. And with the aircraft carrying out multiple rotations per day, “That’s a huge opportunity for cargo,” Coste said. “We’re still looking at the market, assessing opportunities for freighters. We’re not there yet, but we wouldn’t exclude the possibility. Today, the kingdom is underserved when it comes to cargo capacity, especially to and from Riyadh.”
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