RIYADH AIR: Launch route is London Heathrow from 26 October for a select few

Saudi Arabia’s emerging national carrier, Riyadh Air, has confirmed that its inaugural international route will link Riyadh to London Heathrow (LHR) beginning October 26, 2025. But, don’t get too excited, since these flights are not for the public, only for a select group of related employees.

London First, Dubai Next: The Launch Strategy

Riyadh Air’s early flights to London are part of what it calls its Pathway to Perfect. Oh, spare me the PR talk! Rather than waiting for its full fleet to arrive, the airline will operate daily ‘launch’ flights using a Boeing 787-9 that it bought from Oman Air, repainted, but left it with its admittedly quite comfortable existing cabins. The aircraft, named Jamila, is technically a ‘spare.’ Riyadh’s own aircraft, with its promoted interiors, doesn’t actually arrive until November 2025.

Flight Schedule

The proposed schedule is:

• RX401 departs Riyadh at 03:15 arrives London Heathrow 07:30
• RX402 departs London Heathrow at 09:30 arrives Riyadh 19:15

These early flights will initially be offered to a limited group of employees, select invitees, and the Saudi Public Investment Fund (PIF), which owns Riyadh Air.

The London route is also a strategic slot acquisition. Riyadh Air reportedly secured Heathrow access via a lease from British Airways under a BMI-remedy mechanism. That’s a mechanism introduced after BA’s 2012 acquisition of BMI to maintain competition on key routes.

Significant move

Analysts view the announcement of London as the inaugural route as a sign of Riyadh’s global ambitions. It positions the carrier as a competitor to its established Gulf peers.

In subsequent weeks, the airline plans to add Dubai as another early international destination. Riyadh Air has also indicated that further route announcements will follow for winter 2025 and summer 2026.

Riyadh Air’s CEO, Tony Douglas, is describing the early London flights as a critical testing phase to “fine-tune every detail” . However, the one detail that the flight won’t be able to fine-tune is the cabins. The aircraft they are using still have Oman Air cabin interiors, not the over-hyped seating that Rihadh has been crowing about. Don’t get me wrong, I happen to love those Oman Business Class cabins with their Apex suite seats.

2PAXfly Takeout

Riyahd Air is attracting a lot of attention as it is the first full-service airline with global ambitions to be launched for a while. The Middle East pedigree and Tony Douglas’s leadership also help. Douglas has a long history in aviation, heading up Airports from Heathrow to Abu Dhabi, as well as leading Etihad in its expansion phase, including the iconisation of Nicole Kidman and the installation of The Residence on its A380s.

He is certainly a bit of a showman, and this launch of a London route has all his trademarks, except for that star association.

OK, I don’t deny that I am excited and would love to be on one of these ‘inaugural’ flights. But the real test will be when Rihadh Air’s first aircraft arrive with their new cabins. Then we will know the true quality of this new kid on the block.