Saudia Arabia’s hotly anticipated new airline, Riyadh Air, has been forced to delay its launch until the third quarter of 2025 at the earliest because of continuing production delays at embattled aircraft manufacturer Boeing.
First announced in early 2023, the government of Saudi Arabia had ambitious plans to launch the start-up carrier in just two years, but the first of 72 brand-new Boeing 787 Dreamliners destined for the airline is yet to arrive.
Riyadh Air’s chief executive Tony Douglas had hoped to get his hands on the first fully fitted Dreamliner round about now, but Boeing now doesn’t think it will have the first airframe ready to be delivered until July at the earliest.
“We have obviously pivoted like everybody else has on a number of occasions to be able to adjust to the latest forecast,” Douglas told The Telegraph, warning that the delivery date could be pushed back even further.
“I am confident, given the latest forecast, that we’ll get deliveries this year. Is it completely without risk? Obviously no, it’s not,” Douglas cautioned.
Boeing delivered just 348 new aircraft in 2024, down from the 528 airplanes the manufacturer managed to hand over to their owners in 2023, and less than half the number of planes that rival Airbus delivered in the 12 months to December 2024.
Much of the shortfall was down to a crippling strike that shut down Boeing’s assembly lines in Puget Sound where the best-selling 737 is made, along with the 767 and 777.
Although the 787 Dreamliner is built in Charleston, South Carolina, intense scrutiny on Boeing’s production quality standards has slowed down the manufacturing process, and supply chains remain cripplingly slow.
For now, Riyadh Air will have to make do with a ‘technical spare’ Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner that was delivered to the airline earlier this week. The airframe will allow Riyadh Air to begin crew training and certification flights ahead of its official launch, which is yet to be confirmed.
The technical spare is in addition to the 72 Dreamliners that Riyadh Air has on order, although the carrier will keep hold of the plane once the airline is up and running to “ensure smooth operations.”
The leased plane has been painted in one of two official Riyadh Air liveries, but it does not feature the luxurious new interior cabins and seats that Douglas has frequently boasted about.
In fact, Riyadh Air has yet to disclose many details of the onboard experience, although the carrier says that all will be revealed soon.
Douglas says Riyadh Air has “super aggressive” expansion plans with the idea to serve 100 destinations from its Riyadh hub in the coming years. Unlike other regional carriers like Emirates and Qatar Airways, Douglas claims Riyadh Air will focus on high-yield point-to-point passengers rather than international connecting traffic.
