Saudi Arabia’s newest airline is getting closer to its launch next year, but Riyadh Air wants to get the word out way before that. Fortune reports that CEO Tony Douglas said the country needs the carrier if it’s going to become more of a tourism destination.
“It’s difficult to think of a successful international economy that doesn’t have world-class connectivity,” he reportedly told the audience at Aviation Festival Asia 2024 in Singapore on Wednesday.
Saudi Arabia announced state-owned Riyadh Air last year, and at the Paris Air Show Douglas said that the company is hoping to better serve the Saudi business community rather than directly take on regional carriers like Emirates and Qatar Airways. That said, he did grumble in Singapore that on his way to the conference he couldn’t fly directly from Riyadh, the Saudi capital, and instead had to fly to Dubai and jump on an Emirates plane.
Saudia is making room
The only carrier based in and operating out of Saudi Arabia at the moment is Saudia, which by 2030 will cede its place at Riyadh’s King Khalid International Airport and move to King Abdulaziz International Airport in Jeddah, according to Airways Magazine. Much of Saudia’s current services are already geared toward the multibillion-dollar hajj tourism industry based in nearby Mecca. The kingdom has said that by 2030, it wants to pivot away from its oil-based economy and hopes to derive 10% of its GDP from the tourism sector.