This shouldn’t come as any sort of a surprise, but Delta Air Lines has confirmed that it will delay its planned flights to Saudi Arabia…
Delta’s Atlanta to Riyadh route postponed by months
Delta has announced that it will delay its planned nonstop flights between Atlanta (ATL) and Riyadh (RUH), which was supposed to operate daily with an Airbus A350-900. While the route was initially supposed to kick off as of late October 2026, that service has now been delayed through March 2027.
The airline describes this decision as being made “amid evolving developments in the region,” noting that “the safety and security of customers and employees always come first and continue to guide operational decisions.” However, the airline emphasizes that it remains “committed to serving the Kingdom for the long-term.”
Customers with affected travel plans are told they can visit the “My Trips” section of delta.com to review their options, including refunds.
For context, in July 2024, Delta and Riyadh Air announced plans to launch a partnership, which would include the Atlanta-based airline adding flights to Saudi Arabia. Then in October 2025, Delta formally announced plans to fly to Saudi Arabia, with flights going on sale as of December 2025.
Of course Delta wasn’t going to launch Riyadh flights
I think it was an absolute given that Delta was going to delay its launch of Riyadh flights. For one, the conflict between Saudi Arabia and Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthi rebels has sharply escalated in recent times, and Riyadh Airport has now been attacked several times in the past week.
In one of the most recent attacks, 12 people lost their lives, and over 300 people were injured. In an attack before that, a Saudia Airbus A320 was destroyed, and three people died. That’s all of course incredibly tragic, and there’s no sign of that conflict ending. Delta wasn’t about to launch service there, given that aircraft insurers and unions wouldn’t be onboard with that.
But even excluding this latest safety situation, there’s no denying that the demand for travel between Atlanta and Riyadh just isn’t there, at least initially. We’ve seen how insanely empty these flights were, and that’s despite the fact that Delta was basically giving seats away.
Delta’s motivation for operating this service is twofold (if we exclude Delta CEO Ed Bastian talking about how much Americans are going to love visiting Saudi Arabia):
- Unlike American and United, Delta lacks a close Middle East partner, so the airline values its Riyadh Air partnership, for providing connectivity across the Middle East, the Indian subcontinent, etc.
- Saudi Arabia is offering a massive amount in subsidies for airlines to fly to Riyadh, and airlines love revenue guarantees
Anyway, Delta now has a couple of spare Airbus A350s to play around with this winter, with this route being canceled. I’m also very curious if this route actually launches in March 2027. I’m not convinced the safety situation or the demand side of things will change materially (not that demand seems to actually be a prerequisite for this route “succeeding”).
Admittedly it takes time for demand in markets to build up, but there is a certain irony to the argument for so long being that Riyadh is massively underserved by airlines, yet the only way they can attract airlines is by offering huge subsidies, and then the demand doesn’t actually seem to reflect what’s claimed.
Bottom line
Delta has announced that it will delay its new service between Atlanta and Riyadh until March 2027, representing a delay of around five months. The carrier insists it’s still committed to launching flights to Saudi Arabia, and staying in the market long term.
Delta’s flights to Riyadh were looking insanely empty, to the point that it would basically be a private jet shuttling a couple dozen people. One would logically think such a route wouldn’t launch, since there’s no economic justification for it, aside from subsidies.
However, what finally caused the route to be delayed is the fact that the airport has now been attacked several times over the past week, and obviously that’s not an airport that Delta wants to fly to.
If I were forced to guess, I think it’s unlikely we see the route launch in March 2027 either, but let’s see!
What do you make of Delta delaying Riyadh flights? Do you think the March 2027 timeline will stick?
Tbh there is potential for demand for RUH. It has a metro population of 8M, that puts it basically in the top 50 cities in the world.
RUH is and shouldn't be about creating a 4th ME connecting hub. It should be about serving their local O&D to destinations, and stimulating traffic that way. No one in Atlanta or Riyadh wants to go to the other place.
Quite frankly, there aren't even a lot of...
Tbh there is potential for demand for RUH. It has a metro population of 8M, that puts it basically in the top 50 cities in the world.
RUH is and shouldn't be about creating a 4th ME connecting hub. It should be about serving their local O&D to destinations, and stimulating traffic that way. No one in Atlanta or Riyadh wants to go to the other place.
Quite frankly, there aren't even a lot of Saudis in the US compared to other Arab diaspora. Or even Saudis overseas tbh. Less than 1% of their population lives overseas, compared to the other Middle Eastern nations where that % is 12, 25, and even 60%.
I just don't see how Delta fits into this picture with an ATL to RUH flight.
Finally, we're never going to here the end of how great RUH was, and shifting to TPAC is even greater.
And Ed just like FAA with the 737MAX, are incompetent and took too long to react on the very obvious.
CAAC grounded the MAX immediately, not among the last on the planet like FAA.
Ed should have postponed the flight since Friday.
ATL-RUH will most likely be cancelled and never launch.
It's Delta, they'll probably just add more frequencies to ICN.
the next TPAC flight, likely to SIN, probably just got moved up.
in addition, DL is supposed to receive a number of 35Ks in the 1st and 2nd quarters of 2027 in time for launch of more routes by July, even above MNL going to daily.
Obviously good move by Delta, because flying to RUH now (even in 6 months) seems dubious at best, especially if the seats were a hard sell before the recent attacks. (The subsidies simply aren't worth it.) Whether it's SIN, or more frequencies to TYO, SYD, TATL, etc., all better ideas for the airline, its crews, and passengers.
Do you have sauce or insider info for SIN moving up, or is that just an educated guess, or wishful thinking?
So Tim just to clarify, United now has more flights to the Middle East than Delta? Just confirming that after your bet months ago that Delta was going to be the only US airline to be flying to the Middle East?
And you’re saying Delta is going to redeploy the A350s on TPAC, the only region where their yield growth doesn’t meet their capacity growth (so they literally dilute their yield lol)
They blew it, Timbits, and all out of greed. And who cares about the Long Flaming Turds? The airlines I fly didn't order them, so they're irrelevant in addition to being smelly inferior Airbi.