Riyadh Air Prepares for New Order Before 2025 Take-Off

Riyadh Air's CEO Tony Douglas shared that Saudi's new national airline is planning to make more aircraft orders as it prepares for operating its first flights in 2025. 

Riyadh Air was unveiled on Sunday and the airline announced an agreement to purchase 39 Boeing Dreamliners, with options for 33 more jets. 

This acquisition could lead to 121 planes with options, which involves the Kingdom's Jeddah-based national carrier Saudia. 

According to the White House, the value of the deal could reach $37 billion, which makes it the fifth-largest deal in value in Boeing's history. 

The CEO of Riyadh Air, the former head of Abu Dhabi-based Etihad Airways, said "these aircraft are being assembled in the United States of America and they’ll be delivered to us with the kind of timetable that allows us to prepare to go into service in early 2025."

He also said "it will be added to with further orders during the course of this year, and that will give us a sizeable fleet that will allow us to connect to over 100 different destinations."

Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman considers aviation to be an important component of the "Vision 2030" agenda and he is hoping that annual traffic will triple to 330 million passengers by the end of the decade.