Riyadh Air will dethrone Emirates and Qatar Airways set to launch in 2025
Saudi Arabia has extensively promoted its Vision 2030 aim and has invested in several multi-million dollar projects around the country!
One of the most recent Vision 2030 announcements has been the development of a totally new airline, ‘Riyadh Air.’ I think that Emirates and Qatar Airways will eventually be dethroned from the world’s skies.
Let’s talk about this new Airline in this blog by breaking it down into few parts. Starting with the launch of this Airline
The Launch
Riyadh Air is Saudi Arabia’s second national airline, which is expected to start operations in 2025. It will link the kingdom to more than 100 locations worldwide by 2030, which I find amusing given that their major airline, ‘Saudia,’ only goes to about 90 places.
At the same time, this is HUGE!! since it instantly places ‘Riyadh Air’ above ‘Saudia Airlines’ and ‘Etihad.’ Qatar Airways, Emirates, and Etihad are the top three established airline brands in the Middle East.
So far, they’ve just revealed the livery and announced their Boeing 787–9 purchases! They’ve purchased 33 B787–9 Dreamliners and wants to purchase 39 more. The firm intends to have 75 planes by 2030, which is more than most carriers’ entire fleet! What amazes me is that they are looking for 300–400 narrow body aircrafts in the next ten years, and speculations claim that they will choose Boeing’s 737 Max over the Airbus A320, but only time will tell. However, the interiors, cabin design, apparel, and greater fleet options have yet to be revealed officially.
But what interests me is WHY? Why did Saudi Arabia need to build a completely new airline when they already had Saudia Airlines? They already had a customed base, and they could certainly invest more and improve the premium experience or the livery design to compete with Emirates and Qatar Airways. But why did they not do so?
The Why?
There’s two points to this, 1. Riyadh vs. Saudi and 2. Saudia Airlines existing history!
Riyadh vs. Saudi
You know, Saudi Arabia is on a construction binge with Neom and the Line Project, but Riyadh has been the focal center of the Vision 2030 growth. Riyadh, Saudi Arabia’s capital city, is rapidly growing and attempting to maximize the city’s potential appeal and liveliness. Saudi Arabia’s National Tourism Strategy intends to attract 100 million tourists by 2030, and guess what? They are constructing a brand new airport called King Salman International Airport that literally looks like a mall and I’m not kidding…
Here’s my view on the whole thing. You know how many people throughout the world mistake Dubai for a nation, only to be surprised to learn that Dubai is only a city? That is also the intention with Saudi Arabia! They want people to be more familiar with the term ‘Riyadh.’ When asked to name a city in the Middle East or Gulf area, they want people to keep saying Riyadh on repeat! But how do they do that?
- Make Riyadh the largest Financial hub with multiple tourism attractions
- Advertise the city by placing the city on an Airline that would travel to 100 destination with ‘Riyadh Air’… pretty smart wouldn't you say?
Saudia Existing History
There’s been an abundance of terrible reviews and feedback with Saudi Airlines experience on YouTube, TripAdvisor etc.
Reason 01….Because of the bad response that Facebook has received in recent years, Mark Zuckerberg formed a whole new business, Meta, which became the parent corporation over Facebook. Now, it’s not that bad with Saudia Airlines but is also sought of the approach that they are going with. Launching a new company is like a blank canvas to start afresh rather than fixing the errors and experiences of the past.
Reason 02….You see most people who travel Saudi Airlines are business and religious travelers travelling to Jeddah and Medina. So, when people travel with Saudia they cannot feel the premium-like experience that Emirates or Qatar Airways have created because the reputation that Saudia has created will take a lot of time for them undo it completely.
Reason 03….And lastly, Most people dream of travelling Emirates, Qatar Airways or even Etihad is because of the premium experience that they have created. Hence, its gonna be hard for the travelers to imagine an airline premium that was never premium in the first place.
So there is now distinction. Religious passengers on Saudia Airlines are not so concerned about luxury, and leisure service is not their main priority. Saudia features a business class that is good enough for business visitors visiting Saudi Arabia for work.
3 Things that makes Riyadh Air smarter?
01. Livery Design
They chose deep purple and lavender as the airline’s primary livery colors. And, as we all know, purple has long been associated with royalty. I’ve added links to the pages below to lead you to them. Purple as Royal Color
They have also painted the entire airline. Unlike most other carriers, Purple. As a result, it’s simple to see from a distance. It’s how you tell if a plane is blue for KLM or yellow for Sprint. Riyadh Air may now be identified by the color purple. So, excellent color and design choices.
02. Ordering widebody Dreamliners
Purchasing a widebody Dreamliners, as I indicated in my video, are both versatile and smart. You know, Dreamliners are considered to be Boeing’s luxury category, and everyone enjoys flying one thanks to its efficiency, larger windows, improved leg room, and overhead cabins. As a result, it provides a desired premium experience in our minds.
But it’s clever because the message here is that Riyadh Air will be flying long-haul as well, something Dreamliners excel at.
03. Marketing
Personally, I believe they have captured the interest of most aviation enthusiasts and even those who aren’t, and for an airline that will only debut in 2025, they have created quite a buzz. And it’s all because of its livery. People all across the world adored the Riyadh Air livery, which created favorable first impressions.
However, this Startup firm also held a whole Riyadh Air launch celebration in June 2023, and they also showed this flight at the Paris Air Show 2023, which garnered them so much attention that they were overjoyed.
Conclusion
You see, I believe they have done all possible before the jet takes off! The only thing that matters is the Soft product. What exactly is a soft product? Departures on time, check-in experience, on-board experience, on-board items, infotainment system, and food and beverages, among other things. And it is for these reasons that people first fell in love with Emirates and Qatar Airways.
Knowing Saudi Arabia and their recent investments, they have all the money to compete with the likes of Emirates and Qatar Airways, but it is the soft product that will actually get them the good reviews in the long run, and that is exactly how Saudia Airlines suffered damage, which is no surprise given that literally every other airline suffers in the soft product department!
But, to experience all of that we will have to wait until 2025. Thank you for reading!
