There has not been an airline start-up this ambitious since Emirates in 1985, and on 10 June 2026 it finally opened its doors to the public. Riyadh Air, owned by Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund and run by former Etihad chief Tony Douglas, put its first factory-fresh Boeing 787-9 and its new Riyadh Air business class suites on the Riyadh–London Heathrow route and started selling seats on its own website. Within six weeks it had added Jeddah, Dubai, Cairo, Madrid and Manchester.
The airline is the aviation centrepiece of Vision 2030, Saudi Arabia’s plan to build Riyadh into a hub to rival Dubai, Doha and Istanbul, and it has ordered 39 Dreamliners, 60 Airbus A321neos and 25 A350-1000s to do it. Here are the facts first, then what makes this launch different, and what I would check before booking.
Riyadh Air Business Class: Key Facts
- Launched: 10 June 2026 (public flights, Riyadh–London Heathrow); invitation-only flights on a leased ex-Oman Air 787 from October 2025
- Aircraft: Boeing 787-9, 290 seats in three cabins; 39 on firm order with 33 options, plus 60 A321neos and 25 A350-1000s
- Business cabin: 28 Safran Unity suites in 1-2-1 — 24 Business plus 4 Business Elite in the front row — with sliding doors, 52-inch privacy walls and beds 78 inches long by 22.5 wide
- Business Elite: front-row seats with extra space, a 32-inch 4K OLED screen and a double-bed option in the centre pair; sold as a seat-selection extra of about 1,000 SAR on the London flight, included in the top Elite fare bundle
- Routes: Riyadh–London Heathrow daily (RX401/402, from 10 June); Jeddah twice daily (14 June); Dubai daily (18 June); Cairo daily (25 June); Madrid three times weekly (17 July); Manchester three times weekly (23 July); New York JFK, Paris, Frankfurt, Bangkok and Tokyo named as next-wave destinations
- Loyalty: Sfeer programme; SkyTeam partnerships with Air France-KLM, Delta and Virgin Atlantic expected, reciprocal redemptions not yet live
- Dry airline: no alcohol is served on board, in line with Saudi law
- Fares: London–Riyadh return business from roughly 27,000 SAR (about US$7,200) at launch; Riyadh–London return from roughly 18,500 SAR (about US$4,930)
Indigo, Mocha Gold and a Twist in the Canopy
Riyadh Air chose not to copy the beige-and-walnut template of the Gulf legacy carriers. The 787-9 cabins run to a dark indigo with mocha-gold accents, and the business class ceiling carries a sculpted “canopy twist” above the suites that Head for Points singled out as the cabin’s wow moment on the first commercial 787 flight. The seat underneath is the Safran Unity, in a staggered 1-2-1 that gives every passenger a sliding door and a 52-inch wall; centre pairs get an adjustable divider, and in the four Business Elite seats the divider drops to make a double bed.
Screens are 4K OLED throughout the aircraft, with 32 inches in Business Elite, and One Mile at a Time’s Ben Schlappig, who flew the six-hour Riyadh–Madrid sector in July, wrote that the airline “has simply hit it out of the park when it comes to design”, with top-notch amenities, food and entertainment. The lounge in Riyadh drew the same praise.
Where It Flies, and Where It Is Going
The network is Gulf-and-Europe for now, built around Riyadh’s King Khalid airport and the Heathrow slots the airline had to use or lose from the winter 2025 season. London operates as an overnight from Riyadh (02:35 departure, 07:30 arrival) with a 09:35 return, and the Madrid and Manchester services follow the same overnight pattern three times a week. For readers in Asia the important line is the next one: Bangkok and Tokyo sit on the published expansion list alongside New York, Paris and Frankfurt, which would make Riyadh a genuine third option to Doha and Abu Dhabi on Europe–Southeast Asia itineraries.
Two practical notes from early flyers. Riyadh Air does not yet take special-meal requests on domestic sectors such as Jeddah–Riyadh, and crew are not yet assigned by seniority to a specific cabin, so service consistency is still settling — Nonstop Dan found his Jeddah–Riyadh crew warm and unhurried, but this is a three-month-old airline.
One-way fares are far more than half a return, so if you only want the flat bed in one direction, price business out and economy back — that combination started around 10,500 SAR on London at launch.
What I Know of the Gulf Standard, First-Hand
A preview is not a review, and my verdict on Riyadh Air will wait until I have flown it. But the man running it built Etihad’s premium product, and I know that product well: on Etihad’s 787-9 from Abu Dhabi to Brussels I rated the 1-2-1 suite and the roughly €2,500 return fare 3.5 out of 5, with the food and a crowded lounge as the honest lets-down. I have flown Qatar Airways and Emirates business class as well, and both remain among the best business class products in the world — that is the standard any new Gulf carrier is judged against. I have also flown beOnd, another new premium airline, in its first year, where the fast-track alone saved me 60 to 90 minutes of queueing at Malé — new carriers can surprise on the ground as much as in the air. Riyadh Air’s hardware is clearly a level above what Etihad flies on the 787; whether the soft product keeps pace is the question I want to answer in person.
How Much Does It Cost?
At launch, One Mile at a Time saw London–Riyadh business class returns from about 27,000 SAR (roughly US$7,200) and Riyadh–London returns from about 18,500 SAR (roughly US$4,930), with Business Elite selling as an extra of about 1,000 SAR unless you book the Elite bundle. Business fares come in Smart, Flex and Elite bundles. Domestic business between Jeddah and Riyadh was 2,588 SAR one way when Nonstop Dan flew the route’s first departure.
Flight prices do move between platforms. The same business class seat on the same date is not always the same price on the airline’s own site, Aviasales, Kiwi.com, Trip.com and Expedia: point-of-sale currency, consolidator fares and what is bundled into the ticket can shift the fare by a few percent — and occasionally by much more on premium cabins booked out of Asia. So before I pay I run the same dates through Aviasales, which scans dozens of booking sites at once, then cross-check Kiwi.com, Trip.com (often the sharpest on Asian routes) and Expedia (strongest when you add a hotel to the same booking). One caveat: a ticket bought through a booking site is changed or refunded through that site, not the airline, so read the fare rules before you buy.
On paper this is the most interesting premium airline launch of the decade — and the first serious new rival to Qatar and Etihad for Europe–Asia business class travellers.
Photos © Riyadh Air
This preview is based on official announcements and early published reports — I haven’t flown Riyadh Air yet. Read more about how I review or visit my Work With Me page.
Disclosure: this article contains affiliate links. If you book through them, I earn a small commission at no extra cost to you. Read my full disclosure policy.
