Hello from Spain, as I just flew Riyadh Air’s Boeing 787-9 business class on the six hour flight from Riyadh (RUH) to Madrid (MAD), as I continue the return portion of my review trip. Obviously I was very much looking forward to this flight, given that Riyadh Air recently launched commercial operations, has huge growth plans, and has promised to be premium, with an obsessive attention to detail.
So, how did it all go? On balance, my experience was excellent. Riyadh Air’s cabins are gorgeous — this airline has simply hit it out of the park when it comes to design (the same was true in the lounge). The airline also has top notch amenities and food, friendly crews, and very good entertainment.
However, not surprisingly for a new airline, there were some areas for improvement, which is to be expected. The Wi-Fi was broken, and I feel like service needs to be a little more efficient (which will come with time).
All-in-all, for a startup airline, they’re definitely operating like pros. In this post I’d like to share some initial thoughts, and then soon I’ll have a full review.
In this post:
Riyadh Air’s 787 business class cabin might be my new favorite
Riyadh Air has what I think are the best Boeing 787 business class interiors I’ve seen on any airline, between the quality of the seats and the cabin finishes.
Let’s cover the cabin finishes and aesthetics first. CEO Tony Douglas has in the past described the interiors as being similar to a Maybach in terms of quality, and I think that’s actually spot on. I don’t think I’ve ever seen such an elegant-looking business class cabin.
The seats just feel luxurious in a way you won’t find on many airlines, ranging from the seat stitching, to the patterns on top of the seats, which are intended to look like the desert. Heck, each seat even has custom lighting settings, to an extent that you just won’t find on many airlines.
But it’s not just style, as there’s also substance. Riyadh Air has gone with the Safran Unity platform on its Dreamliners, which I’d consider among the best business class seats out there. Japan Airlines was the launch customer for this product, and it really is an exceptional staggered seat with a door. Dreamliner business class seats don’t get better than this, in my opinion.
Oh, and speaking of the overall cabin ambiance, I adore Riyadh Air’s boarding music. I could listen to it all day — I just wish they’d upload more than a 90-second clip to YouTube, so that I could have it on the background while working.
My one hard product disappointment was the lack of individual air nozzles. C’mon Riyadh Air, newly delivered Dreamliners without individual air nozzles?! If it’s any consolation, Saudis love their air conditioning, so at least the cabin was kept at a cool temperature.
Riyadh Air’s 787 business class has great tech… ish
In terms of tech, Riyadh Air’s 787 business class seats have crisp 22″ 4K OLED monitors. They have all the bells and whistles, from a great map feature (and even a special one for kids, which I love), to bluetooth audio, to headrest speakers — that’s right, you can watch entertainment without using headphones, as this is technology that was launched on Japan Airlines.
The seats also have two USB-C outlets, one USB-A outlet, and one AC power outlet (there’s no wireless charging, but I sort of find that to be a scam anyway, so that didn’t bother me).
So far so good, but here’s the issue I had. Riyadh Air is supposed to have free Viasat Wi-Fi, though it just didn’t work on my flight for the entire time. I understand sometimes tech just doesn’t work, though I found the lack of communication surrounding this to a bit disappointing.
I alerted the crew about this, and they were caught off guard, and said they’d check on it. I checked with them again 30 minutes later, and they said they tried to reset it, but that was the extent of it. In these situations, it would be nice if they more proactively communicated about these issues, especially when the airline so heavily markets how it offers free Wi-Fi.
Riyadh Air’s business class amenities are extensive
As you’d expect for a newly launched “premium” airline in the Gulf region, there’s no shortage of amenities in Riyadh Air business class.
First, I have to say that the bedding was phenomenal. Each passenger was given two pillows, a substantial blanket, and a very thick mattress pad, probably among the highest quality ones I’ve seen on any airline. The crew also performed turndown service, making it easy to get comfortable.
Beyond that, Riyadh Air has a partnership with Saudi lifestyle brand Kayanee, with a range of products made exclusively for the airline. This includes lounge wear, which I found to be comfortable, and that was offered with slippers.
There was also an amenity kit. While it didn’t have a huge number of products, they were high quality, with an excellent eye mask, a dental kit with Marvis toothpaste, and four Kayanee products.
Before bed time, I was even offered an oil that was intended to help with relaxing, which the crew suggested I rub on my wrists or on my neck. It’s always nice when airlines try to offer cute touches like this.
Riyadh Air’s business class food is very good
A six hour flight leaving at 2AM and arriving at 7AM (local time) is hardly going to be the most exciting in terms of catering, even though it’s among the most common flight schedules in the region
On this flight there was a dine on demand menu, with a full breakfast selection, plus an “anytime” menu. You can have what you’d like, but I found it interesting that the crew generally recommended having breakfast after takeoff and then the anytime menu before landing (or at least suggested that this is what most people do).
That’s exactly the opposite of what you’ll find on carriers like Emirates. Again, since it’s in dine on demand it doesn’t actually matter what they “recommend,” I was just surprised to hear it.
I decided to have a snack after takeoff from the anytime menu, and I opted for a beef pastrami panini, along with a dessert trio. They were both delicious, and rather decadent. I accompanied the first course with the “Saudi Cocktail,” consisting of sparkling apple and mint juice, which was even served in a proper(ish) wine glass, and then I had a chamomile tea with the dessert.
Then before landing I had breakfast. Airplane breakfast is rarely exciting, though this had to be one of the best I’ve had in a long time. To start, I had a date and banana smoothie, and a local breakfast cold assortment, with za’atar labneh, marinated halloumi, and shanklish.
For the main course, I had the scrambled egg shakshuka, which was phenomenal, the most well executed egg dish I’ve had on a plane in a long time.
I finished off the meal with a cappuccino, nicely presented on a tray with some sweets.
Riyadh Air’s crews are friendly, surprisingly up to speed
Riyadh Air has no doubt punched above its weight when it comes to recruitment for a Saudi airline. If we’re being honest, historically most foreigners have applied at carriers like Saudia if they were rejected from Emirates, Etihad, Qatar Airways, etc.
In the case of Riyadh Air, the airline managed to recruit crews from many of the prominent Gulf carriers, because obviously there’s a lot of excitement about being able to work for a startup, and the carrier’s great marketing helps as well.
Given how little experience they had with this product, I’d say the crew was great, as they were professional and well intentioned. Keep in mind that Riyadh Air just launched operations weeks ago, so for many flights attendants, they’re still on their first few trips. When you take that into account, service was as good as I could’ve expected.
To be constructive, though, I do think they need to work on tightening up service a bit in terms of how long it takes. We’re talking about a sub-six hour flight here, and the latest you can have a meal is two hours before landing, and they already started to turn on the cabin lights (though on a dim setting) 2.5 hours before landing. On such a short flight, allowing passengers to maximize their rest is important.
So hopefully that’s something that can be addressed over time, especially since it’s not like Riyadh Air’s business class cabin is big — we’re talking about just 28 seats.
Bottom line
I’m delighted I had the chance to fly Riyadh Air’s Boeing 787 business class, just weeks after the airline formally started commercial flights. This airline has been in the works for years, and there are a lot of smart people from all over the world working there.
Getting an airline off the ground is no small task, even when you’re as well funded as Riyadh Air. Riyadh Air knocked it out of the park with its cabins, both in terms of style and substance. The entertainment system and tech are also great, as are the amenities and food. My only real issue was that Wi-Fi didn’t work. Of course that happens, but for an airline that promises how it’s a “digital native,” it’s less than ideal.
So, that brings me to the question asked in the title — did the airline live up to the hype? I’d say yes and no. This is a top tier business class product, minus the alcohol situation (if that matters to you).
Should you travel to or specifically connect in Saudi Arabia to fly Riyadh Air? Unless you’re me, no, probably not. 😉 In terms of soft product, I’d argue that Saudia is quite competitive nowadays as well, though the Riyadh Air hard product is next level.
Riyadh Air’s primarily goal is to serve the local market, and the argument is that Riyadh has historically been underserved. If the goal is to stop people from connecting through other Gulf hubs, like Doha (DOH), then I’d say Riyadh Air’s product absolutely accomplishes that goal.
What do you make of Riyadh Air’s 787 business class?
So it's a nice carrier that is still inferior to their Gulf rivals.
I get that it’s a young airline… but you’d think when trying to compete against emirates Etihad l, Qatar, and Turkish that Saudia would be a little more generous with award availability if nothing else than to get the exposure of its product (and stopovers in Riyadh/jeddah). Especially with a public that I imagine would generally avoid the region wherever possible right now. Are these cabins anywhere near full?
No wine = No Go + No Saudi Arabia for me (for multiple reasons).
I enjoy flying F on JL/NH and actually BA and get to enjoy nice wines. Suprisingly BA has (or used to ) offer some really nice wines in F.
Some Arab airlines offer alcohol on international routes while not having them on domestic flights. That seems like the more evolved choice. Like you I have zero interest on flying airline.
@Ben,
I watched Nonstop Dan's video about Riyadh Air, he was in the last row of J on the window side.
The pitch looked very very tight, the screen very close to where he was sitting, and really not a lot of space for the tray table. I know camera shot angles, and wide angle lenses on vlog cameras can be deceiving, so in the full review it'd be great of you could comment more on the feeling of space in the seat.
It’s worth exploring how Riyadh Air compares to Starlux Airlines, because the parallels between the two are obvious. Except RX and JX won’t have too many destinations in common to begin with, aside from perhaps BKK. JX won’t fly west of BKK (except a few European places like PRG) in the short run, and RX probably won’t fly east of BKK.
As far as I’m concerned, RX’s shades of purple and orange are absolutely BRILLIANT....
It’s worth exploring how Riyadh Air compares to Starlux Airlines, because the parallels between the two are obvious. Except RX and JX won’t have too many destinations in common to begin with, aside from perhaps BKK. JX won’t fly west of BKK (except a few European places like PRG) in the short run, and RX probably won’t fly east of BKK.
As far as I’m concerned, RX’s shades of purple and orange are absolutely BRILLIANT. They way RX handles the colour violet is very different from how Thai Airways (which has one of my favourite liveries and colour schemes in the world) handles that colour. RX is just the latest in a long list of Arabic-speaking airlines to have drastically transformed its branding, typography and presentation — and the bar was set very high by cross-country rival Saudia in recent years, as well as Gulf Air and Etihad before that.
That’s in great contrast to Starlux, which generally does not impress very much when it comes to Westernised professionalism. That’s only to be expected, because Northeast Asian airlines like JX, unlike Arabic ones, don’t tend to handle the English language very well or use a consistent typographic identity like RX superbly does. The outlier is obviously Cathay Pacific, as well as Korean Air after its 2025 rebrand. How marvellous they are!
Looking forward to Flying them soon. Thank you for the review.
Definitely reads like a sponsored post…
I appreciate the customization down to the details on the seat itself.
They're one of the few airlines who have a bespoke product and not "off-the-shelf" along with Cathay Pacific, Singapore, Emirates, ANA, Qatar. If you look at other carriers, it's a standard product along with their CMF (colour,material,finish)
Curious what economy looks like considering the small J cabin, did you get a peek? Wondering if service there will also match up to EK/QR
@ breathesrain -- No sense of the service, but the economy and premium economy cabin both looked quite nice as well. Premium economy is still a pretty new concept for the region.
Their economy seat is the latest Recaro product with all the gadgets available such as bluetooth, however, the pitch is really tight. It's only 30" between door 2 and door 3, and 31" after door 3.
31" is the industry standard, but 30" is really tight for a FSC. Condor has 30" seats on A339, but it'll be worse on Riyadh with the even narrower seat width on 787.
When will they settle on a livery and colour of their aircraft?
Every time I see a post, the exteriors are never the same.
@ jeff slack -- Hah, that's because they're going to have two different liveries in the long run!
As for the Safran Unity seat, it's not really comparable to the one on JAL A35K. The Unity seat on JAL is so heavily customized that it's almost a different product.
It's pitched 51" on JAL, and 45" on Riyadh Air. 6" is a huge difference.
That would explain the look of the screen being very close to the seat.
I believe the interiors were designed by PriestmanGoode and it looks like they did an excellent job.
That's a gorgeous cabin but shame they elected to not have air vents which is a feature I value a lot. You can have the best hard product but it won't matter when the cabin is sweltering hot. I'm glad they kept the cabin cold but I would still want to control the air flow around me.
I also hate it when airlines wake you up for the final meal so early. This is quite...
That's a gorgeous cabin but shame they elected to not have air vents which is a feature I value a lot. You can have the best hard product but it won't matter when the cabin is sweltering hot. I'm glad they kept the cabin cold but I would still want to control the air flow around me.
I also hate it when airlines wake you up for the final meal so early. This is quite common with ANA and JAL too. One of the things I do appreciate about US carriers is that they serve the final meal at around one hour before landing. Even on UA's 76L with 45 occupied J seats, the crew despite being understaffed completes a whole meal service with time to spare at the top of descent.
Regarding cabin crew recruitment, I'm sure this is a better choice for them than taking the risk working for Beond. lol.
“and a local breakfast cold assortment”
Technically, that is more Levant than local…
“if they were rejected from Emirates, Etihad, Qatar Airways, etc.”
Who are the etc in this case?
Glad to see it was a positive flight overall. Here’s hoping they can keep that standard in the long run.
Hello. Ben. How much was the cash fare for this flight? (I'm sure this is months, if not years, away from being bookable with points and miles.)
@ hanchicago -- My RUH-MAD ticket cost around $1,500 in business class. It was the cheapest long haul(ish) fare I could find.
Great. Thanks for the review. Now I am curious about the airline
Ummm Maybach!?!, Absolutely not. This is not even close to the level of detail and thought one finds in the top tiers of a quality benz.
Just look at the photo of the charging ports… wow, looks like the charging ports of every other lay flat airline seat in the world. Where exactly are these maybach level details?? and are there more than 3 of them?
The amount of hype here is honestly a bit mind blowing.
Good enough hard product, but what makes JAL A350 appealing is the fact that you're flying to Japan. That's the journey.
With Riyadh, you're flying to Saudi Arabia or connecting somewhere else I don't care enough about. This is a necessary part of the product, but not one compelling enough to make me fly them.
I don’t entirely agree with your statement. You may well fly SQ’s 777 or an older ANA/JAL 787 to Japan and you will still receive top-notch service. Perhaps what you’re referring to is the sense of Japanese hospitality onboard JAL’s A350-1000, including the washoku meal and the amenities, as well as the hogh-tech.
Other than that, I strongly believe that Gulf airlines like Etihad tend to project a far more Westernised brand image than Northeast...
I don’t entirely agree with your statement. You may well fly SQ’s 777 or an older ANA/JAL 787 to Japan and you will still receive top-notch service. Perhaps what you’re referring to is the sense of Japanese hospitality onboard JAL’s A350-1000, including the washoku meal and the amenities, as well as the hogh-tech.
Other than that, I strongly believe that Gulf airlines like Etihad tend to project a far more Westernised brand image than Northeast Asian airlines like EVA Air, and the former hence feel distinctly more professional. Riyadh Air’s brand identity is on par with what you’d expect from Air France or even Delta’s 2025 refresh, Few Northeast Asian airlines (except CX and more recently KE) can match that level of cohesion and consistency.
*high-tech amenities like the headrest speakers and 43” TV in JAL’s A350 F/J cabins
My guess is its mostly going to be about connectivity. We'll see. That being said, Riyadh also has a lot of business going for it: Using Gemini AI:
1).Business and Financial Hub
King Abdullah Financial District (KAFD): A massive, smart business center and LEED Platinum-certified district hosting major banks and global firms.
2).Regional Headquarters Program: Requires international companies to base their regional offices in Riyadh to win government contracts.
3). Economic Output: Generates roughly 50...
My guess is its mostly going to be about connectivity. We'll see. That being said, Riyadh also has a lot of business going for it: Using Gemini AI:
1).Business and Financial Hub
King Abdullah Financial District (KAFD): A massive, smart business center and LEED Platinum-certified district hosting major banks and global firms.
2).Regional Headquarters Program: Requires international companies to base their regional offices in Riyadh to win government contracts.
3). Economic Output: Generates roughly 50 percent of the Kingdom's non-oil GDP.
4).Technology and Innovation Hub
5). Digital Infrastructure: Rapid growth in cloud computing (with data centers from major global tech giants) and cybersecurity.
6). Startup Ecosystem: Home to specialized areas like Riyadh Techno Valley and innovation hubs like The Garage, accelerating AI, fintech, and digital gaming.
There you go. A LOT of Saudi Business -that's going to be excellent in terms of yields, etc.
Nice review. Not sure I'll fly them anytime soon, but nice to see what they're offering at least. That exterior livery, specifically the "mask" around the cockpit, looks like eyeliner! Bah!