Airline startup Riyadh Air is expected to launch flights as of late 2025. The company already has up to 72 Boeing 787-9s and up to 60 Airbus A321neos on order. The airline will commence operations with 787s, and has just revealed the cabin finishes for these jets.
In this post:
Riyadh Air does plan to offer first class, eventually
All of Riyadh Air’s Boeing 787s are expected to feature business class (including a front row “business class plus” product, branded as Business Elite), premium economy, and economy.
From early on, Riyadh Air CEO Tony Douglas was clear that the airline wouldn’t offer first class. Here’s how Douglas explained that in mid-2023, when he was asked if the lack of first class was a conscious decision:
“It was a very conscious decision, and it’s driven by financial sustainability, as well as environmental sustainability. First class on many carriers is a charitable affair. What I mean by that is my father taught me when I was very young that any fool can sell $100 for $50.”
“First class for many international carriers is an egotistical, charitable act, which is not commercially sustainable. It’s $100 for $50, and the reason why is because it’s often 2.5x the real estate of business class, but you don’t sell it for 2.5x the ticket price. So by definition, it’s $100 for $50. We will not do that, because we’re not a registered charity.”
So there’s an interesting update, along those lines. While Riyadh Air plans to not offer first class on its Boeing 787 fleet, the airline does plan to offer a first class product on its future wide body aircraft order, and promises a really high end and differentiated product.
We know that in the coming months, Riyadh Air intends to announce another wide body aircraft order, for even larger jets. So it’s anyone’s guess how many of those planes there will be, and when they’ll be delivered. Either way, they will feature first class… or at least that’s the plan as of now.
One of the things that I respect about Douglas is that he’s very much a “never say never” kind of airline executive, so he’s open to evolving his stance on things as time goes on. He did this at Etihad a couple of times (like with the return of the A380), so it’s not surprising to see it here as well. I appreciate his willingness to always share his current perspective on things, even if his thoughts may change over time.
Will Riyadh Air order the Airbus A350 or Boeing 777X?
When it comes to Riyadh Air’s upcoming aircraft order, we know that the airline is deciding between the Airbus A350 and Boeing 777X. More specifically, presumably the airline is deciding between the Airbus A350-1000 and the Boeing 777-9s, as a sort of long haul, flagship aircraft. Which plane will Riyadh Air opt for? I mean, it’s anyone’s guess.
The Airbus A350-1000 has the advantage of actually being certified, and it’s probably the best wide body plane currently in production in terms of range, economics, and passenger comfort. The catch is that there’s a lot of demand for the A350-1000, so it’s probably hard to secure delivery slots.
The Boeing 777-9 is the aircraft manufacturer’s newest aircraft, though the challenge is that the plane isn’t actually certified yet, and has been delayed by six years so far, and counting. Demand for the 777X hasn’t been as high as for the A350, so I imagine Riyadh Air has more potential to get a deal on the jet, and to get sooner delivery slots, assuming the plane actually gets certified.
It makes sense that Riyadh Air would only introduce first class on these jets, where you have a bit more real estate to play with than on the 787-9. On smaller jets, the opportunity cost to first class is just too big. Meanwhile on larger jets, it can be tough to fill every seat, and therefore there’s more value in investing in larger premium cabins to generate more revenue.
Bottom line
Riyadh Air has just unveiled its Boeing 787 cabins, which look gorgeous. As expected, the planes won’t have first class, but will instead have a premium business class product, branded as Business Elite.
One interesting update is that Riyadh Air does plan does now plan to offer first class, but on other jets. Specifically, the airline will install first class on its upcoming wide body aircraft order. That’s likely several years down the road, and it remains to be seen if the airline opts for the A350-1000 or 777-9.
What do you make of Riyadh Air’s planned three cabin layout?
First class is very challenging product, both in terms of service quality and economically. Only very few airlines roll it out on all long haul flights (e.g., LX) or at least on a large share of them (e.g., EK, BA). For most others, it is a niche product on very specific routes (e.g, AF, QR, JL, NH, TG, CX, GA) and therefore only a small sub-fleet is equipped with F. I guess Riyadh Air for...
First class is very challenging product, both in terms of service quality and economically. Only very few airlines roll it out on all long haul flights (e.g., LX) or at least on a large share of them (e.g., EK, BA). For most others, it is a niche product on very specific routes (e.g, AF, QR, JL, NH, TG, CX, GA) and therefore only a small sub-fleet is equipped with F. I guess Riyadh Air for good reason is first building up a sustainable J/Y/Cargo business and only then intends to have F on very specific routes.
There's no commercial sense in offering a first class product then filling it with employees, points redemptions, and upgrades. Airlines seem to have become increasingly choosy about only selling first on routes with pax who can afford to pay cash for the seats. Unicorns; like Ben's four F seats on JAL; do still exist, but I fear they'll become even more vanishingly rare as airlines add smaller, more deluxe cabins and restrict redemptions ever further.
Saudi Arabia will almost certainly have to buy Boeing to keep in Trump's good graces.
Is this the new order Boeing was teasing about on twitter in the last week or so? The announcement of 20 B777-X will apparently be made at the Paris Air show in June.
I read an article on OMAAT the other day that mentioned The German People. I was surprised when visiting Florsheim, it's nice, and surprisingly in Germany.
I have been developing a lot of confidence in the Saudis, so I'm interested to see how this translates into their young people's vision for Arabia. I am inclined toward the Shafi'i people, but in these times maybe err on the side of caution is wise.
Mecca is too expensive, but that's something to think about.
For a startup airline to compete with the established world class F cabin providers, Riyadh is going to have to provide something really, really special.
AF moved the goalposts with their New La Premiere cabin. If Riyadh can resist the bling and achieve an understated, spacious and private cabin, they may be able to compete with the Gulf States airlines.
Geographically, their ME hub ambitions might fail to materialise.
They will probably go with the 777X. They will probably stick with Boeing widebodies and Airbus narrowbodies
The difficulty in only offering first class on one of their types of jets is that they are limited in selling any connection that includes a 787 or a321, which will be most connection. Seems a worse option than having 1st class in all of their products, or none of their products.
Won't they just sell mixed cabin tickets? Seems fairly common practice.
They are competing against EK that practically have a round the network F product.
Don't none of EK's new A350s have F?
QR and EY also have a fairly limited F footprint too. I don't think it's quite as bad as they make it out to be.
A good number of EK A380, B777-300ER and all B777-200LR fly without first class cabin.
All A350-900 for now looks like it will be without first class (even their LH version with less than 300 seats)
B787-8 is coming in without first class too, though B787-10 is very likely to have first class.
How is that any different than other airlines? E.g. La Premiere with a connection to most destinations.
Exactly. You fly LAX or SIN to CDG in LP, but then you're sitting in narrow body business class on the hop to Nice, Bordeaux, or Milan.