Saudi Startup Riyadh Air Gets Over 2,500 Slots At Riyadh Airport

Filings by Airport Coordination Limited (ACL), a slot coordinator that manages over 75 airports in the world, have showed that Riyadh Air has received over 2,500 slots at Riyadh King Khalid International Airport (RUH).

Slots to start operations

According to the slot coordinator’s initial coordination report, airlines had requested a total of 97,130 slots at the airport serving the Saudi Arabian capital, with ACL allocating only 38.7% of the newly requested landing and takeoff rights for the upcoming International Air Transport Association (IATA) summer season, which will begin on March 30, 2025.

Riyadh Air received 2,574 slots, or 100% of its requested slots, which will enable the airline to start operations during the summer season.

During the current winter season, which started on October 27 and will continue until March 29, 2025, Riyadh Air had no slots at King Khalid International Airport.

Nevertheless, with its slot portfolio, Riyadh Air became the fourth-largest airline at the airport, with 2% of the total allocated flight movements. SAUDIA, the flag carrier of Saudi Arabia, will have the largest share of movements, 50.9%.

The startup carrier has also requested and received 702 slots at Saudi Arabia’s other large airport, Jeddah King Abdulaziz International Airport (JED).

However, initial slot coordination reports for several major airports, including but not exclusive to Dubai International Airport (DXB), London Heathrow Airport (LHR), and London Gatwick Airport (LGW), have not indicated that Riyadh Air had requested slots at these gateways.

Flying in early 2025

At Routes World in October, Tony Douglas, the chief executive officer (CEO) of Riyadh Air, stated that Riyadh is a very poorly served city, with its digital-savvy and young population being very thirsty to travel abroad.

Douglas added that there would not be a lot of surprises on Riyadh Air’s upcoming destination list – which should be revealed in early 2025 – but the executive emphasized the airline’s focus on aircraft utilization, which will be underpinned by slot timings.

ACL’s report detailed that at Riyadh-King Khalid, the airline either has 352 aircraft movements per day – on Mondays and Sundays – or 374. On Mondays, it will operate up to 16 aircraft movements between 00:00 and 8:00 and for one hour starting at 16:00, 21:00, and 23:00.

Hourly movements starting at 9:00, 12:00, and 17:00 will peak at 32, with the largest number of hourly movements, 64, occurring from 11:00 until 12:00. Between 22:00 and 23:00, the airline plans to operate 48 departures and arrivals per hour.

On Tuesdays, there will be 17 flight movements between 00:00 and 8:00 (with gaps at 6:00 and 7:00), as well as at 19:00. Riyadh Air will ramp up its operations to 34 hourly flight movements at 9:00, 12:00, 16:00, and 23:00, up to 51 at 22:00, and 68 at 11:00.

Operating A321neo and 787s

So far, Riyadh Air has secured two aircraft orders, with the airline opting for Airbus A321neo and Boeing 787-9 aircraft.

In March 2023, Saudi Arabian airlines SAUDIA and Riyadh Air, which are both owned by the state, ordered 39 787-9 and 787-10 (ten options) and 33 787-9 (33 options) aircraft, respectively.

On October 30, Riyadh Air purchased 60 A321neo aircraft, adding an option to operate thinner routes where there is not enough demand to justify widebody aircraft. The deal comprised the majority of Airbus’ orders in October.