RIYADH: Saudi flagship carrier Riyadh Air is not planning to compete with its Gulf neighbors’ vast hubs; instead, it will focus on the niche market of flights to and from the Kingdom, said a top official.
Speaking to Financial Times, Riyadh Air CEO Tony Douglas said that regional competitors like Qatar Airways and Etihad Airways have grown by offering connecting flights through their airports.
However, Riyadh Air will focus on carrying passengers to and from Saudi Arabia as the Kingdom emerges as a tourism hub.
“If we look at our closest neighbor, Qatar, obviously Qatar Airways has an incredible international network, global reach, and a population of give or take 2 million people,” said Douglas.
However, he added: “A very substantial percentage of that traffic is transfer. Very little of it proportionally is point-to-point.”
Set to launch operations in 2025, Riyadh Air has its sights set on connecting to more than 100 destinations by 2030.
Douglas stressed that Riyadh Air will offer “absolutely obsessional attention to detail” about the “guest experience” on board.
“For many international guests in the future, the first impression they’ll get is at 38,000 feet with Riyadh Air,” he added.
Talking about supply chain issues, Douglas said that the aerospace industry has struggled to cater to the demand rise after the pandemic.
“Seats, airframes, engines . . . the supply chain for the last three, four years internationally has been challenged at the extreme,” said Douglas.
Saudi Arabia’s unveiling of Riyadh Air as its second flagship carrier aligns with the Kingdom’s rapid transformation into a global tourist destination, in line with the objectives of Vision 2030.
Driven by the National Tourism Strategy, the Kingdom aims to increase the tourism sector’s contribution to the gross domestic product to more than 10 percent.
During the Paris Air Show in June, Douglas told Arab News that Riyadh Air is poised to function as a full-service carrier, focusing on enhancing the guest experience with the current level of digitalization.
“We’ll be the world’s first-ever true digital native. We will make sure we interact with people the way people interact with their mobile phone or handheld device,” he explained.
