We recently learned about how Saudi Arabia is planning on launching a new mega-airline, which may be named "RIA." The country is looking to invest $30 billion in the airline, and essentially create an airline the size of Emirates, only much faster. A couple of weeks ago there was a report that the airline was…
Continue reading: Report: Saudi Arabia’s “RIA” Poaches Etihad CEO Tony Douglas
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It's a smart move by MbS, and Douglas gets the Benefit having seen the missteps of Emirates, QA, his own predecessor, in creating RIA from ground up, clean slate.
I had thought the CEO of AeroFlot would have been calling MbS non-stop to give him a compelling reason to flee VLAD without being pushed out a window.
Since the Saudi Arabia Public Investment Fund has been happy to throw around gobs of money to poach golfers away from the PGA Tour, I have to imagine that Douglas will have all the resources he could possibly need to get RIA off the ground.
"Etihad’s previous CEO lit billions of dollars on fire, wanting to grow the airline into a mega-carrier that competed with Emirates and Qatar Airways".
Wait isn't that what RIA objective is all about?
So you want the guy who undo that to undo RIA before it even takes off?
Just a point of correction - Tony Douglas never worked for "British Airports Authority" - that entity ceased to exist in 1986 and Tony joined "BAA plc" (where BAA didn't stand for anything) in 1998.
An airline the size of Emirates? Will KSA allow this airline to serve alcohol? Can’t imagine a “dry” Emirates. How dreadful!
I just wish the name to be something else than RIA. RIA is a low comission money transferer operating already ib 160 countries. Would a dynamic, luxurious airline wish to be associated with one like that?
No alcohol (champagne, wine etc) means no mega airline to compete with Emirates or Qatar. Simple as that
Abu Dhabi’s Midfield Terminal was “built” under Tony Douglas watch, and we have seen what came out of that.
Also in terms of achievements and capability as a leader , there is a reason why Sir Tim Clark is Sir and Tony Douglas is not,
Tony Douglas is certainly good at pleasing local leaders, but I am not sure if he is the right choice for this job.
Boeing needs to get ALL OVER THIS, like yesterday. Would be a big win to nab a future giant customer, would also help our trade imbalance with SA, and would help smooth over political tensions. And before anyone comments " SA is evil, blah blah": Airbus and the Chinese AND the Russians will be lining up to sell to RIA and probably already are. Boeing needs a new cash paying customer, just like this.
I think something was mentioned about this in a previous article. Saudia will stay the "religious travel/hajj" airline for the country based in Jeddah. RIA will be much more lax in that regard, based in Riyadh, and focused on tourism.
Anyone know about those scenes from the first few episodes of the show Cobra Kai where Miguel gets called “Rhea”? That’s the first thing I thought about when I saw this new airline’s name. Not sure that the name brings good connotations.