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 centerpiece 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; at Farnborough in July 2026 Riyadh Air exercised options on 28 more Dreamliners, including its first 787-10s, and firmed six more A350-1000s (31 in all), with 60 A321neos to come. One leased ex-Oman Air 787-9 (HZ-RXX) still flies with an older 30-seat business cabin without doors
- 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 center 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); Kuala Lumpur three times weekly (30 July); Mumbai daily (4 August); Dhaka daily (7 August); Islamabad daily (14 August); Lahore three times weekly (18 August); Bangkok (2 September, daily from 9 November); Manila (9 September, daily from 19 October); Jakarta three times weekly from 16 November (RX869/870); Milan from December; Singapore tipped for 2027; New York JFK, Paris, Frankfurt and Tokyo named earlier as future destinations
- Loyalty: Sfeer program; 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)
- Based on: Riyadh Air’s own announcements and first-flight reports from One Mile at a Time, Head for Points and Nonstop Dan, plus SeatCompare’s seat guide, checked 12 October 2026 — I have not flown Riyadh Air yet
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; center 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 started as Gulf-and-Europe, 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 change came over the summer: Kuala Lumpur, Bangkok and Manila are already flying, Jakarta opens on 16 November (Riyadh 22:50, Jakarta 12:00 the next day; back at 15:00, landing in Riyadh at 20:15), and Singapore is tipped for 2027, which makes 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 an airline that only started public flights in June.
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.
Riyadh is filling up fast. Delta’s first US nonstop to Saudi Arabia starts on 23 October — see Delta Flies to Saudi Arabia From 23 October — and Saudia is answering with lie-flat suites on its narrow-bodies, covered in Saudia’s A321XLR business class.
Which Riyadh Air Business Class Seat to Book
All 28 suites have a door and direct aisle access, but the cabin is staggered, so the seat you pick changes the experience. On the even rows (2, 4 and 6) the window seats A and K sit right against the window, with the side console between you and the aisle: the most private suites in the cabin, and the ones I would book travelling alone. The even-row center seats D and G are set wide apart and work for solo travellers too. On the odd rows (1, 3, 5 and 7) the window seats C and H sit beside the aisle with the console against the window, and the center pair E and F sit side by side, which is what you want as a couple.
Business Elite is row 1: seats 1C, 1E, 1F and 1H. The center pair, 1E and 1F, is the one to book for the double bed. But row 1 is the closest to the forward galley and lavatories, and 1C and 1H are aisle-side positions, so if you are travelling alone and want to sleep, SeatCompare’s seat guide rates 2A or 2K as the better seat.
Check the seat map before you pay for anything. Riyadh Air still flies one leased ex-Oman Air 787-9, registration HZ-RXX, with 30 older business seats in a 2-2-2 layout and no doors. The giveaway is the numbering: if business class starts at row 10 rather than row 1, you are on the leased aircraft.
On Board: Dining, Bedding, Wi-Fi and the Hafawa Lounge
Early flyers agree on the bedding. On the six-hour Riyadh–Madrid overnight, One Mile at a Time’s Ben Schlappig was given two pillows, a substantial blanket and a very thick mattress pad, with turndown service, plus loungewear and slippers from the Saudi brand Kayanee and an amenity kit with an eye mask, a Marvis dental kit and four Kayanee products. Dining is on demand, from a breakfast menu and an “anytime” menu, and with no alcohol on board the signature drink is the “Saudi Cocktail” of sparkling apple and mint juice.
Each suite has a 22-inch 4K OLED screen (32 inches in Business Elite), Bluetooth audio and speakers in the headrest, so you can watch without headphones, plus two USB-C sockets, one USB-A and an AC outlet. Wi-Fi is free over Viasat for members of the Sfeer loyalty program, which you can join on board, but it did not work at all on Schlappig’s flight, so download what you need before you board. The other miss he flagged: there are no individual air nozzles, although the cabin was kept cool.
On the ground in Riyadh, Business and Business Elite passengers use the Hafawa Lounge in Terminal 2 at King Khalid International: 2,000 square meters designed by Yabu Pushelberg, with room for 370 guests and à la carte executive dining. A second Hafawa Lounge is planned for London Heathrow Terminal 4, with no opening date announced.
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 let-downs. 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.
The bundle decides more than flexibility. On international routes, Business Smart includes 45 kg of checked baggage, Flex 50 kg and Elite 65 kg, plus 15 kg of cabin baggage on every business fare, and no single bag may weigh more than 32 kg. Shorter routes cost far less than London: at launch, Riyadh–Mumbai business started from 2,537 SAR (about US$676) one way, and Schlappig paid around US$1,500 for his Riyadh–Madrid business ticket.
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.
Related: Etihad has just put an enclosed First Class suite on a single-aisle A321LR.
Riyadh Air Business Class: FAQ
Does Riyadh Air business class have doors?
Yes. The 787-9 carries 28 Safran Unity suites in a staggered 1-2-1 layout, each with a sliding door and a 52-inch privacy wall, and beds 78 inches long by 22.5 inches wide. Four front-row Business Elite seats add extra space, a 32-inch 4K OLED screen and a double-bed option in the center pair. The exception is one leased ex-Oman Air 787-9 (HZ-RXX), whose 30 business seats in a 2-2-2 layout have no doors.
What is the difference between Riyadh Air Business and Business Elite?
All 28 seats are the same Safran Unity suite. Business Elite is the front row of four: extra space, a 32-inch 4K OLED screen instead of the standard one, and a center pair whose divider drops to make a double bed. It is sold as a seat-selection extra of about 1,000 SAR on the London flight, or included in the top Elite fare bundle.
Where does Riyadh Air fly?
Riyadh Air started public flights on 10 June 2026 with Riyadh–London Heathrow, then added Jeddah, Dubai, Cairo, Madrid and Manchester within six weeks. Since then it has added Kuala Lumpur, Mumbai, Dhaka, Islamabad, Lahore, Bangkok and Manila, with Jakarta from 16 November 2026 and Milan from December. New York JFK, Paris, Frankfurt and Tokyo were named earlier as future destinations, and Singapore is tipped for 2027.
How much does Riyadh Air business class cost?
At launch, London–Riyadh business class returns started from roughly 27,000 SAR (about US$7,200) and Riyadh–London returns from roughly 18,500 SAR (about US$4,930). Business Elite is sold as a seat-selection extra of about 1,000 SAR unless you book the Elite fare bundle.
Does Riyadh Air serve alcohol?
No. Riyadh Air is a dry airline: no alcohol is served on board, in line with Saudi law.
Which is the best seat in Riyadh Air business class?
Travelling alone, book a window suite in an even row (2A, 2K, 4A, 4K, 6A or 6K), which sits right against the window with the console on the aisle side. Couples should book a center pair in an odd row, ideally 1E and 1F in Business Elite, where the divider drops to make a double bed. Row 1 is the closest to the forward galley and lavatories.
Does Riyadh Air fly to Southeast Asia?
Yes. Riyadh Air flies to Kuala Lumpur, Bangkok and Manila, and Jakarta starts on 16 November 2026 with three flights a week. Singapore is tipped for 2027 under a partnership with Singapore Airlines.
Is Wi-Fi free on Riyadh Air?
Yes, for members of Riyadh Air’s Sfeer loyalty program, which you can join on board. The 787-9s use Viasat satellite Wi-Fi; early flyers have reported outages, so download what you need before you board.
Which lounge does Riyadh Air business class use in Riyadh?
The Hafawa Lounge in Terminal 2 at King Khalid International Airport, open to Business and Business Elite passengers. A second Hafawa Lounge is planned for London Heathrow Terminal 4.
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.
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