A Riyadh Air
Boeing 787-9 has been spotted sporting the airline’s new white livery. While this is the first aircraft that the airline will use operationally, it will not be used in regular passenger service and will rather be kept as a technical spare.
Riyadh Air is hoping to launch flights later this year, and it is due to take delivery of its first brand new aircraft from Boeing around late Q2, early Q3. In order to keep the process moving, the airline has announced that it will be temporarily leasing a Boeing 787-9
. Simple Flying understands that this aircraft will come from neighbouring Oman Air
.
Not for paying passengers
The Boeing 787-9 revealed today will not be intended for carrying regular passengers. Instead, Riyadh Air has clarified that this “extra” Boeing 787-9 will be used as a technical spare, and only for as long as needed. Describing the move, the airline says,
“The opportunity to lease this plane demonstrates the innovative nature of Riyadh Air to create solutions and start serving the people of Riyadh and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia in 2025.”
Photo: Riyadh Air
But what does this mean? The main aim of the aircraft is for Riyadh Air to undertake non-passenger tasks such as pilot training and continuing the airline’s air operator certificate process. The aircraft could also be used for charter flights such as flying its sponsored soccer team, Atlético de Madrid. The airline has been clear that this aircraft is not intended for passenger flights. However, it could be used as a substitute only in exceptional circumstances, if one of the brand new Boeing 787s is unavailable for technical reasons.
Photo: Riyadh Air
Which aircraft is it?
Riyadh Air was clear to point out that their new cabin is not installed on this temporarily leased aircraft, hence it is not intended for regular passenger flights. The aircraft will keep its existing cabin, which begs the question, which aircraft is it?
Related
Huge: Riyadh Air Diversifies Fleet Plan With 60 Airbus A321neo Orders
The narrowbody orders accompany the airline’s widebody Boeing 787 order.
As mentioned, Simple Flying understands that the aircraft is coming from Oman Air. Looking at Oman Air’s fleet, there is only one aircraft that has been out of action recently. A4O-SD is currently at Abu Dhabi having landed there from Shanghai Pudong Airport (PVG) on December 16th according to data from Flightradar24. It was ferried from Muscat to Shanghai on November 14th, before undertaking a one and a half hour test flight on December 14th.
What cabin does A4O-SD have?
The cabin on the aircraft will hopefully be of no relevance, but there is a minute chance that passengers could end up experiencing it if a regular fleet aircraft is grounded. According to fleet data from ch-aviation, this Boeing 787-9 has a two class layout consisting of 30 business class seats and 258 economy class seats.
Photo: Oman Air
In the business class cabin, there are 5 rows of 2-2-2 suites, each with direct aisle access through some clever staggering. AeroLOPA reveals that these are the Collins Aerospace Apex suites. Meanwhile, in the economy cabin are 3-3-3 seats also manufactured by Collins. This is not one of the Oman Air Boeing 787-9s with the “Business Studio” cabin, akin to first class.
What’s next for Riyadh Air?
There are still some significant milestones to overcome before Riyadh Air launches as an airline, though it looks like things are still on track to materialise later this year.
Firstly, the new Saudi Arabian carrier will need to reveal its new seating concept to the world. For business class, this will almost certainly be a bespoke product to rival the Qatar Airways QSuite as opposed to an off the shelf product. It will also be interesting to see how Riyadh Air manages to differentiate the economy product.
Photo: Tom Boon | Simple Flying
The airline will also need to take delivery of its first two owned Boeing 787-9s from the US planemaker. These are currently expected to be delivered around half way through 2025.
The Boeing 787 previously seen in the purple Riyadh Air livery at airshows is not part of the airline’s fleet and is only used for promotional purposes.
