Seat the rich: Saudi Arabia's new airline plans to compete for first-class passengers
Pete Syme/Business Insider
- Riyadh Air is in talks to buy more aircraft, and CEO Tony Douglas wants them to include first class.
- The most luxurious cabin has enjoyed a recent resurgence, with European carriers raising the bar.
- Saudi Arabia's new airline unveiled its business class ahead of a launch in the last three months of 2025.
First class is enjoying a resurgence — and Saudi Arabia's new airline plans to include the elite cabin on some of its planes.
Riyadh Air is in talks about a third aircraft type in addition to its orders for dozens of Airbus A321neos and Boeing 787 Dreamliners.
"We are at the moment involved in an extra-wide-body campaign as well," CEO Tony Douglas told Business Insider, in a reference to the largest aircraft types such as the Airbus A350 or Boeing 777X.
He said these planes would "almost certainly" include a first-class cabin.
Chandan Khanna/AFP/Getty Images
Douglas's comments come as more airlines bet on the most lavish tier, especially in Europe.
Air France's La Première, which debuted this month, has two seats and takes up the length of five windows.
Lufthansa's Allegris first class launched in November with floor-to-ceiling walls and a double bed. British Airways plans to retrofit its Airbus A380s with new first-class suites entering service next year.
Their plans follow an influx of rich Americans visiting Europe since the pandemic ended. New suites are raising the bar because first-class airfares typically cost five figures, so some customers that wealthy could also afford to travel by private jet.
Claire-Lise Havet/Air France
A startup as ambitious as Riyadh Air would also want to compete for the richest travelers.
As part of Saudi Arabia's Vision 2030 plan to diversify its economy, the new airline hopes to help attract more tourists to the kingdom. It would likely also turn Riyadh into a travel hub with a hub-and-spoke route model similar to other Middle Eastern carriers like Emirates and Etihad, where Douglas used to be CEO.
An opulent first-class cabin would help Riyadh display a level of luxury at least equal to its competitors. Saudi Arabia is the wealthiest country in the Middle East and ranks 19th worldwide for GDP.
Starting a new airline is a difficult task, especially as demand faces constraints with economic uncertainty from President Donald Trump's trade tariffs.
However, Douglas pointed to data from credit card companies showing that since the pandemic, some people are more interested in paying for experiences like travel.
"Because the kingdom is growing at the rate that it is doing, because the population is large and young, we don't see any signs of [travel demand] abating," he said.
"The market already exists, so it's not as if we're gambling on trying to build a market. We're completely underserved within the kingdom."
Courtesy of Riyadh Air
The airline on Saturday unveiled its cabin interiors for the Boeing 787. It has a front row of four "Business Elite" seats with 32-inch TVs, which the carrier says are the largest of any business class.
In the center, removing the divider essentially creates a double bed similar to Qatar's QSuite, named the world's best business class by Skytrax.
Douglas told BI he was especially proud of the design details such as the suite number lights, marble veins, and "mocha gold" color accents.
Despite the huge ticket prices, first class is typically less profitable than business class. That's because the suites take up a lot of space on board and offer top amenities.
American Airlines is the only US carrier to offer it, and on a fraction of its long-haul jets even then. Qatar Airways has turned away from first class, instead saying its QSuite business class is just as good.
David Ibekwe
Douglas spoke similarly highly of Riyadh Air's Business Elite suites, but is still eyeing the crème de la crème too.
He said the airline decided not to include first class in its initial fleet due to "uncertainty" around the supply chain.
Launch delay
Aircraft seats have been a particular difficulty since the pandemic ravaged international supply chains, delaying plane deliveries. Air India CEO Campbell Wilson previously told BI how much he wanted to get "these damn seats installed on the aircraft."
Riyadh Air previously hoped to start flying this spring but has been hampered by Boeing delivery delays as the planemaker overhauled its production processes to deal with a safety and quality crisis.
Douglas told BI that Riyadh Air is on track to take flight in the last three months of 2025.