Riyadh Air is Saudi Arabia’s ambitious new airline, which will launch flights in 2025. Back in 2023, the airline placed an order for up to 72 Boeing 787-9s, as this will be the carrier’s primary wide body aircraft. Then earlier in 2024, we learned that Riyadh Air had placed a narrow body aircraft order, though the details weren’t initially revealed. Well, that has finally changed…
Riyadh Air goes with Airbus for narrow body jets
Riyadh Air has disclosed that it has placed a firm order for 60 Airbus A321neo jets. While the order was finalized several months back (by an “undisclosed customer”), an agreement was today signed at the Future Investment Initiative (FII) in Riyadh, so the details have been made public. Riyadh Air expected to take delivery of its first jet in the second half of 2026.
The A321neo is the largest member of the Airbus A320 family of aircraft, and offers fantastic range, passenger comfort, and economics. It would appear that Riyadh Air has just ordered the “standard” A321neo, rather than the A321LR or A321XLR, which offer incremental range.
Here’s how Riyadh Air CEO Tony Douglas describes this order:
“This investment will not only enable us to support economic growth in the aviation industry, it will ensure Riyadh Air operates one of the most fuel efficient fleets. It’ll be instrumental in helping Saudi Arabia achieve its decarbonisation goals. This deal strongly reinforces the positive economic impact of Saudi Arabia’s newest airline on both a global and local scale to facilitate the fast-growing Saudi aviation ecosystem.”
We knew that Riyadh Air was deciding between the Airbus A320neo family and the Boeing 737 MAX family of jets, and I think Riyadh Air made the right choice here.
Several months back, Riyadh Air also revealed that it intended to order additional wide body aircraft, though there nothing further has been announced on that front. The airline aims to fly around 200 jets within five years of launching operations, which would be by 2030. The airline now has at most 132 aircraft on order, so it needs to increase its order book a bit more to meet that goal.
It’ll be interesting to see if the airline orders more Boeing 787s, takes a gamble with the Boeing 777X, or ends up going with the Airbus A350 (though delivery slots can be hard to come by). Boeing sure isn’t in a good spot when it comes to being able to deliver aircraft right now, so…
I’m impressed by how consistent Riyadh Air has been so far with its orders, in terms of minimizing the number of variants, and instead focusing on commonality.
I’m curious how Riyadh Air configures its A321neos
While Riyadh Air is promising a revolutionary passenger experience, up until now the airline hasn’t actually announced much regarding how it will configure aircraft, both on its Boeing 787-9s and Airbus A321neos.
When it comes to the A321neos, I’m looking forward to seeing what the interiors of the jet will look like. Will they all have a flat bed business class product, so that they have the flexibility to fly to Asia, Europe, etc.? Or will the airline have two types of configurations, with some having flat beds, and others having recliner seats in business class?
At a minimum, I think we’ll see a herringbone product with doors, similar to what you’ll find on JetBlue A321neos and A321LRs, and an ever-increasing number of airlines.
Or maybe we’ll even see a reverse herringbone configuration, like you’ll find on ITA Airways’ A321neo.
Regardless, I’d expect great tech, free Wi-FI, etc.
Bottom line
Saudi Arabian airline startup Riyadh Air has announced that it has placed an order for 60 Airbus A321neos. Earlier this year we learned that the airline placed a narrow body aircraft order, but the details weren’t made public. Now we know, and I’d say Riyadh Air made a good choice.
The airline now has up to 72 Boeing 787-9s and 60 Airbus A321neos on order, bringing the carrier’s eventual fleet to 132 aircraft. Riyadh Air hopes to fly 200 planes by 2030, so I guess we should see more orders soon.
With Riyadh Air potentially being less than a year from launch, I’m looking forward to learning more about the passenger experience.
What do you make of Riyadh Air ordering the Airbus A321neo?
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