Riyadh Air & Blacklane Partner For Airport Chauffeur Service

Airline startup Riyadh Air is expected to launch operations in late 2025, as Saudi Arabia’s ambitious new carrier, connecting Riyadh (RUH) to the world. We’ve increasingly been learning details about the carrier’s passenger experience, like Riyadh Air recently unveiling its Boeing 787-9 cabins.

While minor in the scheme of things, here’s another passenger experience update from Riyadh Air…

Riyadh Air will offer chauffeur service in Riyadh

Riyadh Air and Blacklane have announced a strategic partnership, to offer seamless ground transportation. This collaboration consists of a couple of different things.

For one, Riyadh Air will offer complimentary chauffeur service for eligible passengers traveling to and from Riyadh. This will be available to business class passengers and select eligible loyalty guests, who will receive a complimentary chauffeur service within a 50-kilometer radius of the airport.

Furthermore, Blacklane will be integrated into Riyadh Air’s booking platform, so that Riyadh Air passengers will be able to book flights and ground transportation as part of the same process. Beyond that, though, this will allow guests to arrange (at a cost) transfers across the globe, including airport transfers, city-to-city travel, and in-city rates by the hour, at any of Riyadh Air’s global destinations.

Here’s how Riyadh Air CEO Tony Douglas describes this development:

“Our partnership with Blacklane reinforces our ethos of ensuring our customers experience Saudi hospitality with world-class service standards. We revealed our stylish new Business Elite and Business Class seats recently, and this is the next step in keeping our promises to deliver an exceptional premium experience to our guests. Riyadh Air and Blacklane are two outstanding brands with hospitality and an attention to detail at heart, and our relationship will offer our guests a truly elevated travel itinerary, from the first mile to the last.”

This partnership seems logical enough

I’m not surprised to see that Riyadh Air plans to offer complimentary chauffeur service at its hub, for premium passengers. While it’s rare in many parts of the world, it’s pretty standard with some of Riyadh Air’s biggest rivals, like Emirates and Etihad.

It sounds like Riyadh Air doesn’t plan to offer complimentary chauffeur service at outstations, unlike Emirates. That’s fair enough, since I’m not sure the math on that really consistently checks out. After all, it’s pretty costly for the airline, I’m not sure it does much to impact booking decisions, and most business travelers can expense ground transportation anyway.

Riyadh Air has labeled itself as “the world’s first digital native airline,” and the airline is promising great tech throughout the booking process and travel experience. So I imagine we’re going to see a lot more third party integration into Riyadh Air’s website and app. The Blacklane integration might be a (very small) example of that.

Bottom line

Riyadh Air plans to partner with Blacklane, to offer complimentary chauffeur service for premium customers in Riyadh. Furthermore, Blacklane will be integrated into Riyadh Air’s booking channels, so that customers can book premium ground transfers around the globe (at a cost).

What do you make of Riyadh Air partnering with Blacklane?