Riyadh Air, Saudi Arabia’s new national airline, is expected to launch operations in 2024. Up until now, we haven’t known what to expect from the carrier’s onboard product, though here’s a noteworthy update.
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Riyadh Air will offer premium economy, not first class
The Telegraph has a story about the different approaches that airlines are taking with offering a first class product. Along those lines, Riyadh Air CEO Tony Douglas has shared some details about what Riyadh Air has in store for passengers.
Douglas states that on long haul jets, Riyadh Air intends to have three cabins, including business class, premium economy, and economy. That’s right, Riyadh Air won’t offer first class.
As a reminder, the airline has ordered up to 72 Boeing 787-9 (including 39 firm orders and 33 options). The airline is expected to soon place a narrow body order as well, with the airline reportedly leaning toward the Boeing 737 MAX.
Riyadh Air is arguably the most ambitious airline project we’ve ever seen. The airline hopes to become the size of Emirates, but in a quarter the amount of time. Okay, admittedly the project is ambitious in terms of the projected growth, though it’s not that hard to grow when you have seemingly unlimited funds from the Saudi government.
My take on Riyadh Air’s planned cabin configuration
I’m not sure whether to be surprised or not by Riyadh Air’s decision to not introduce first class.
On the one hand, I kind of assumed that Riyadh Air would offer first class, given that it obviously aims to be an opulent Gulf carrier, and a great first class certainly makes headlines.
On the other hand, not offering first class also makes sense:
- The Boeing 787-9 isn’t exactly a huge plane, so Riyadh Air doesn’t have as much real estate to play with as Emirates has on the A380, for example
- Riyadh Air CEO Tony Douglas is a disciplined guy who is focused on cost, and when he ran Etihad, he also wasn’t a fan of first class, and chose to instead focus on creating a great business class product
- From a business perspective, I think it makes a lot of sense to offer premium economy rather than first class, especially since that’s something that Gulf carriers currently largely lack
It’s interesting to see how Gulf carriers are seemingly taking different directions when it comes to cabins:
- Qatar Airways believes that there’s no future for first class, and also doesn’t plan to introduce a premium economy product, so instead focuses on offering two cabins of service, with an exceptional business class
- Emirates Airline is very committed to first class and is also in the process of installing a new premium economy cabin, while seemingly maintaining its subpar business class
- Etihad Airways has introduced a great new business class product, doesn’t see much of a future for first class, and also hasn’t embraced premium economy
In terms of maximizing efficiency, I’d say Riyadh Air is probably taking the most logical approach here. The airline can offer a great business class hard product, premium economy, and economy. When Riyadh Air orders narrow body aircraft, I’m also curious to see how those will be configured.
You’d assume that a 737 MAX would just have business class and economy, though it sure would be nice to see the airline also introduce a premium economy product. After all, if you want to make the value proposition of premium economy attractive, it’s nice to have that product throughout the fleet, so that passengers don’t end up spending one of two segments in economy.
One other thing to note is that Saudi Arabia’s current national airline, Saudia, offers first class on many of its Boeing 777s. Riyadh Air is supposed to be a more premium airline than Saudia, though it sounds like you’ll have to fly with Saudia if you want first class.
Bottom line
Riyadh Air will offer business class, premium economy, and economy, when it launches, but not first class. That’s probably logical, since it’s much easier to consistently fill cabins other than first class. I had kind of assumed that Riyadh Air would offer first class, simply for vanity, but I guess the airline is more disciplined than that. I suppose I shouldn’t be surprised, with Douglas at the helm.
What do you make of Riyadh Air’s planned three cabin layout?
Great idea..... This is called business policy..... Nice.
If I were the owner, I'd pick up a one type of aircraft such as B-777 due to operational cost.
J class is a trend for most of the airlines nowadays
Ben, do you think Riyadh Air will join an alliance? If so, which one do you think is most likely?
A lot of their success will depend on the ability to duplicate the service QR and EK provide. If not, they will have to discount deeply once the novelty wears off
Tony Douglas ran Etihad indeed...straight into the ground...
That was James Hogan...
Not surprising at all, reducing / eliminating F is the direction that every other airline is moving in, and Etihad tried offering a very nice first class as well as the Residence, and neither of those really worked out for them. Given RX's CEO is the same as Etihad's, he knows all too well the pitfalls of F. There's only enough demand for F to sustain a cabin in a handful of top markets, and...
Not surprising at all, reducing / eliminating F is the direction that every other airline is moving in, and Etihad tried offering a very nice first class as well as the Residence, and neither of those really worked out for them. Given RX's CEO is the same as Etihad's, he knows all too well the pitfalls of F. There's only enough demand for F to sustain a cabin in a handful of top markets, and that may or may not be enough to justify an F product at all, depending on the airline.
Interesting
Will this be a 'dry' airline as well?
I too am not surprised by their configuration other than mileage hounds First class is slowly deteriorating with business and premium class becoming the norm, I just flew BA premium class from LHR to SEA and frankly it was a pleasant experience. If you book early getting the outboard seats it's as good and many business class seating. Frankly I like it better than Business on BA which configuration is horrible making one feel like...
I too am not surprised by their configuration other than mileage hounds First class is slowly deteriorating with business and premium class becoming the norm, I just flew BA premium class from LHR to SEA and frankly it was a pleasant experience. If you book early getting the outboard seats it's as good and many business class seating. Frankly I like it better than Business on BA which configuration is horrible making one feel like a mouse findings its way through a maze.
Weird. How much time do you spend wandering around trying to find your way into or out of a seat, versus actually sitting in it like normal people do? Pretty sure the differences become quite apparent then.
Ben, Not sure why you're so surprised here. If the goal of this airline is to appeal to foreigners and drive tourism, then I'm not sure why you would need first class
Yes, some airlines in the region may need first class to have appropriate "opulence" for the royal families that are flying on their airlines but that doesn't seem like it would be a concern for Riyadh air.
@ Al -- I'm not "so surprised," I just thought it was more likely than not that Riyadh Air would have first class. Also, first class on Emirates most definitely isn't primarily targeted at the royal family. There's huge demand for first class in many markets. Just take a look at how full Emirates' A380 first class cabins are between London and Dubai on nearly a dozen flights per day. That's not all royals.
Rereading, I think my comment may have come off a bit stronger than I would have meant.
Certainly some fair points you brought up!
"Also, first class on Emirates most definitely isn't primarily targeted at the royal family. There's huge demand for first class in many markets."
Spot on.
I fly EK 1st several times a year and I'm I'm certainly not royal, though I *am* imperious. :)