Saudi Arabia's new airline Riyadh Air is about to change the world of air travel

Riyadh Air's fleet of 39 Boeing 787-9s will catapult the airline into the major league when it debuts.Credit: Boeing

Which country announces a new national airline, then just a few days later reveals an order for 39 Boeing 787-9 Dreamliners, with options for 33 more? With a price tag of $US292 million ($436.5 million) per aircraft, the base order alone will cost $US11.39 billion, although Boeing would offer a discount. That's a big play from Riyadh Air, the new carrier announced by Saudi Arabia's crown prince Mohammed bin Salman early in March 2023.

There's more to come, with plans to invest $100 billion in aviation by 2030, but there are not many countries with sovereign wealth funds the size of Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund.

By itself, the start-up fleet of 39 Boeing 787-9s will catapult Riyadh Air into the major league when it debuts on the world's aviation scene, planned for 2025, and the crown prince has big plans for the airline. That includes challenging the likes of Emirates, Qatar Airways and Emirates for supremacy among the Middle East carriers and attracting 100 million visitors annually to the kingdom by the dawn of the next decade.

According to a statement from Saudi news agency SPA, the new carrier is also expected to add $US20 billion to the country's non-oil gross domestic product and create 200,000 jobs both directly and indirectly, part of Saudi Arabia's Vision 2030 plan to counter a projected drop in oil revenues. Those figures could only be achieved if Riyadh Air's passengers spend a few days at least in the kingdom, rather than passing through in transit.

That's what Riyadh Air's leadership team has in mind, setting an ambitious target of just 10 per cent transit passengers, the remainder to stop over or even make Saudi Arabia their destination to experience its World Heritage Sites, the new resorts on its Red Sea coast, its traditional culture and its rugged desert and mountain landscapes.

With Riyadh as its base, the new airline is well positioned to connect Asia, Europe and Africa. However achieving those visitor numbers will require engineering a major turnaround in a country that bans the consumption of alcohol, and where fundamentalist fervour is frequently at odds with human rights.

See also: I visited Saudi Arabia as a solo female tourist. What I found was surprising