Riyadh Air CEO Tony Douglas talks me through the airline’s ‘just launched’ cabins

There are two global mega projects in aviation right now. There’s the transformation of Air India, which we covered last week, and then there is Riyadh Air.

As its name suggests, Riyadh Air is being set up as a second flag carrier for Saudi Arabia. Saudia will focus on flights to and from Jeddah whilst Riyadh Air will serve the city of Riyadh, the capital and financial centre of Saudi Arabia with a population of over seven million.

Riyadh Air has just shared the first details of what its cabins will look like. I had a 1-to-1 call with CEO Tony Douglas who talked me through their plans.

Riyadh Air is a start-up airline backed by serious money (the Saudi Public Investment Fund) and the Crown Prince and defacto ruler Mohammed bin Salman. The plan is to serve 100 destinations by 2030 and, eventually, rival Emirates, Etihad, Qatar Airways and Turkish Airlines. It is working on a scale that has not been seen since Emirates launched in 1985.

You can read more about why Riyadh Air exists and what it hopes to achieve in my earlier interview with Tony Douglas here.

Until now, all we’ve seen is the purple livery painted on the first of 39 Boeing 787-9 aircraft. The rest of the experience has been a mystery.

With flights getting nearer to launching (date TBC), Riyadh Air is finally ready to showcase what you can expect onboard. And it looks – and, based on my chat with Tony this week, sounds – good.

Introducing Business Elite on Riyadh Air

Let’s start at the front of the aircraft. When it launches, Riyadh Air will be a three-class airline with business, premium economy and economy seating. It has intentionally chosen not to introduce First Class on this aircraft:

“We are in the throes of an extra wide body campaign at the moment. So we will add a third aircraft type to our fleet which will almost certainly introduce a game-changing first class product. Now, from an operating economics and a financial sustainability point of view, we didn’t do it on the 787 fleet.”

That said, it is introducing an extra spacious ‘business class plus’ front row it is calling Business Elite. This is something we are increasingly seeing on airlines as seat manufacturers offer a differentiated front row.

Tony hypes it up as “probably better than most First Class products” which is a bit of a stretch, but it does look very smart:

Business Elite features just four seats in the same 1-2-1 configuration as the rest of the business cabin, but each seat comes with additional space:

“As the front row, we obviously don’t need to have that element of the space consumed by a seat in front, so we’ve utilised all that to add a little more space.”

“The chassis is the same chassis we’ve designed with Safran for the rest of business class. I use the automotive analogy that the difference between an S Class Mercedes and a Maybach is actually through material choices and design because, of course, the chassis is the same. It’s exactly the same vehicle underneath the floor.”

“It’s an amazing space. We’re talking about 78 inches. In terms of the bed, I’m quite a tall fellow. It’s extremely comfortable for a gentleman of my dimensions. And as I say, in terms of those centre seats, you’ve got the ability to turn it into a double bed because the centre divider retracts all the way down.”

The four Business Elite seats feature a monster 32″ TV screen which Riyadh Air claims is “the world’s largest Business Class screen.”

Will it have the same food, the same service and the same soft product as the rest of business class, or is it more as a halfway house between the future First Class?

“Very much the latter. And we’re going to do a separate reveal on all the amenities for all the cabins, because we think it’s a story that deserves its own space from this.”

Business class on Riyadh Air

Behind Business Elite are 24 standard business class seats. Riyadh Air has opted for a staggered, forward-facing configuration based on the Safran Unity seat. This is the same seat that JAL has installed on its new A350-1000 and which I reviewed here, although customised in a very different way.

“The reason we selected the Safran Unity product is that we thought it was by far and away the best chassis and the most comfortable seat proposition out there.”

Riyadh Air’s customisations are more than skin-deep. Take a look at the architectural curves of the 52″-high suite walls, some of the tallest in the industry:

My boyfriend thought they looked “very Zaha Hadid”.

“The canopy twist, which is the hood behind the headrest, looks amazing when you see the whole cabin with 28 seats. It just looks stunning, right?”

Coupled with the up-lighting Tony calls this Riyadh Air’s ‘signature’ with the wave form of the canopy echoed in the stitching of the seats and the seat dividers.

They also serve a practical purpose. Based on my experience with JAL, these high walls combined with the doors offer incredible privacy – when seated, you won’t be able to see anyone else.

Each business class seat has a bed length of 78″ or 198cm with a seat width of 22.5″ (57cm).

Regular business class seats come with a screen size of 22″ – not quite as large as JAL’s 24″ monsters but still sizeable. Both come with the latest 4K OLED technology and Bluetooth pairing from Panasonic as standard.

You’ll be able to enjoy the in-flight entertainment without headphones thanks to the built-in headrest speakers which Tony touts as part of a wider partnership between Riyadh Air and Devialet, including in their lounges.

“The ability to sit without having headphones on and listen to Hi-Fi quality audio, but the person next to you can’t hear what you’re listening to, is wonderful.”

I found this a bit gimmicky on my JAL flight – at least for blockbusters with rich sound mixing – but it’s good if you just want to put something on in the background or listen to a podcast.

The centre seats alternate between honeymoon pairs, with the seats closer together, and pairs further apart. Both types feature full-width retractable dividers giving you a choice between privacy and openness.

Each seat comes with proper mains charging as well as one USB-A port and two USB-C ports. It’s good to see Riyadh Air embrace the future!

The overall finish of the seats is stunning, with dark purple and orange tones as well as stone finishes. Use of accent lighting around the suite gives it a soft glow. Here is how Riyadh Air describes it:

“Mocha Gold and veined stone accents in premium cabins offer a subtle, elegant contrast to rich purple textures. A thoughtfully curated palette: dark indigo, mocha, iridescent tones, skyline blue, sunset peach, and lavender, evoke a rich sophistication, seamlessly weaving the identity of the city of Riyadh into a modern expression of luxury felt throughout every cabin.”

Tony adds:

“Even down to the numbering on the suites, the level of design detail we’ve put into that, with the backlighting. It’s the kind of thing that many people might not even notice. But for me, great design is subliminal. It’s not screaming in your face. All those little details cumulatively build up to deliver an elevated proposition.”

Premium economy on Riyadh Air

Behind the business class cabin you’ll find 39 premium economy seats. This puts it in an exclusive club with Emirates the only other Middle Eastern airline to offer this popular cabin.

In fact, Riyadh Air will share more than just a premium economy cabin with Emirates, as the Recaro-supplied seat “is the same chassis that Emirates use on their premium economy that’s widely acclaimed, and I would agree is one of the best that’s out there.”

The 2-3-2 layout comes with 38″ seat pitch – the measurement from the back of your seat to the back of the seat in front of you – which is on the lower end. JAL, for example, offers 42″.

Each seat comes with privacy head wings, “increased seat storage” and a calf rest.

The expansive 15.6″ screens are huge for premium economy and feature the same 4K OLED technology and bluetooth pairing as in business class.

To charge your own devices you’ll need to bring a USB-C cable as each seat has four USB-C ports but no other outlets.

Some of the same details are echoed from business, such as the black stone finish in the extendable cocktail table.

“In terms of the colour palette, we’ve used a colour called mocha gold, which is an elevated premium colour part of the palette, but we’ve even got it running through the veins in the cocktail tables.”

Riyadh Air economy seating

At the back of the plane are 223 economy class seats, which Tony calls “for me, for many people, the most important cabin.”

These are in a typical 3-3-3 configuration and with a 31″ pitch and 17.2″ width – necessarily narrow due to the 787’s narrow fuselage.

Each comes with a 13.4″ 4K OLED screen and two USB-C charging points.

This economy seat will also be installed on Riyadh Air’s fleet of A321neos when they start arriving in 2026:

“One of the other benefits of being a startup is consistency. Take the economy seat you’ve just seen; it will be exactly the same our A321neo fleet as well.”

Riyadh Air is taking off …. soon

So when you can try Riyadh Air for yourself?

“We’re looking to actually operate our first flights in Q4.”

Both Airbus and Boeing are dealing with production delays, but Tony tells me that:

“The nice thing with our 787s now is that you can go to Charleston, South Carolina, where the Boeing 787 production line is, and you can physically stand inside two of our aircraft because they’re in production now.”

“However, until the aircraft actually land at Riyadh International Airport, I will never, ever, ever count my chickens!”

Riyadh Air will intially start commercial flights with just three aircraft, which will allow it to launch with an initial two routes. Tony won’t yet say where, but:

“You probably won’t be surprised to hear that it will be somewhere in Europe, and somewhere closer to home. It will be a minimum of two destinations from day one. So let’s just imagine it. It’s City X in Europe. The machine comes back from City X in Europe, there will be a 90 minute turnaround in Riyadh, and then we’ll pick up City Y, which will be a three to four hour sector, right? And then back. What we’re trying to do, obviously, is get the utilisation of the airframe up, and it actually worked beautifully from a network planning perspective as well.”

From 2026 Tony expects Riyadh Air to take delivery of at least one new aircraft per month; intially 787s but joined by Airbus A321neos in the second half of 2026.

“So actually some months we’re taking two aircraft, some months even three aircraft. So like all of these things, the way I describe it is it’s a crawl, walk, run, sprint and sprint faster. You can’t go from crawl straight to becoming an Olympic class sprinter. There’s a journey that we go through, but that’s also a gift as well.”

What do I think?

Overall, Riyadh Air’s Boeing 787 cabins are impressive.

In business class, it’s gone for an off-the-shelf product, but the Safran Unity seat is one of the most private and spacious seats out there. There really isn’t much between this and Qatar’s industry-leading Qsuite, which comes with its own problems such as a narrow footwell – not something I experienced when I tried JAL’s version of the Safran Unity.

Crucially, these seats have been heavily customised and there’s a really strong attention to detail, from the swooping design of the curved seatback walls to the in-suite lighting and detailed upholstery. Clever branding elements have been incorporated into the seat, including the (I’m sure soon-to-be iconic) ‘R’ logo on the suite lamp and seatback.

Premium economy also looks good and is based on the popular Recaro seat. My only note here is that a 38″ pitch is on the tighter side and far from industry-leading; it would have been nice to see a few more inches here.

I think it’s interesting that Riyadh Air has chosen to retain the same luxurious aesthetic from business class in both premium economy and (to some extent) economy, as many airlines choose to visually differentiate each cabin. I think it shows clear intention as to where Riyadh Air wants to position itself.

It will be interesting to see how Riyadh Air complements its cabins with both the dining service and soft product, such as the amenity kit. I’d like to see proper mattress pads in business class for a start, as this always makes a huge difference to onboard comfort. Let’s see!