Saudi Arabia’s newly established airline, Riyadh Air, is poised to enter the competitive travel market, positioning itself against major global players like Booking.com and Expedia. The airline aims to create a comprehensive digital platform that will enable customers to plan and manage their entire travel experience.
The proposed platform will encompass a wide range of services, including flight bookings, accommodations, car rentals, AI-generated itineraries, and tickets to various attractions and events. Additionally, it will feature a shared shopping cart function to facilitate group reservations and allow for split payments, along with exclusive perks such as priority boarding and fast-track options.
Tony Douglas, CEO of Riyadh Air, emphasized the dominance of established travel platforms like Booking.com, which boasts a market capitalization of $150 billion. In contrast, even the most valuable airlines lag significantly behind in market valuation, with Delta Air Lines—the world’s top airline in 2023—valued at $34 billion, followed by Ryanair Holdings at $23 billion, according to Statista.
“We do all the hard work, we’ve got the balance sheet with aircraft on, which depreciate quickly … but he or she who controls digital controls where the value is at,” Douglas remarked at the Future Investment Initiative (FII) in Riyadh on Tuesday.
Riyadh Air, owned by the Saudi Public Investment Fund, aims to differentiate itself as a “digitally-led business that enables travel,” moving away from traditional airline models. Douglas noted, “We don’t have a legacy. We don’t have to use systems that have been around our industry for many decades.” He added that the board faced a strategic decision: to either follow conventional methods or become a pioneering digital native startup.
Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman has identified aviation as a key component of his Vision 2030 reform agenda, with the goal of tripling annual passenger traffic to 330 million by the decade’s end. Riyadh Air seeks to leverage the kingdom’s digitally savvy population, where 52.3 percent of individuals spend over seven hours online daily, and 99 percent primarily utilize mobile devices.
Douglas compared Riyadh Air’s engagement strategy to that of tech giants like Amazon and Uber, stating, “Why is it that every other industry seems to have modernized, from banking to healthcare, but we still book and manage our flights the same way we did a decade ago?”
With Saudi travelers expected to average 3.2 trips per year—significantly higher than in Western Europe and North America—Riyadh Air aims to capture a substantial market share through its innovative platform.
The airline recently announced orders for 60 narrow-body aircraft from Airbus and has plans to connect to 100 international cities by 2030, intending to offer a more extensive frequent flyer program than its competitors. Last year, Riyadh Air also agreed to acquire 39 Boeing Dreamliners, with options for an additional 33 jets.
Douglas criticized the current state of global connectivity from Saudi Arabia, stating, “We don’t fly directly to Tokyo, Shanghai, Seoul, or Sydney. It’s simply unacceptable.” He pointed out that Saudi Arabia is losing business opportunities to neighboring Gulf countries, noting that the highest volume of first and business-class travelers on Qatar Airways are Saudi nationals. “It’s just wrong,” he added, reflecting on the need for improved connectivity.
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