Riyadh Air aims to finalise a wide-body aircraft order this summer, as it chooses between the Boeing 777X and Airbus A350-1000 models, the industry's largest twin-aisle jets.
The Saudi Arabian start-up is also considering an order for dedicated freighters after it makes a decision on the twin-aisle jets, chief executive Tony Douglas told The National at the Arabian Travel Market in Dubai.
"We will do an extra-wide-body order, if it all works on the timelines we're on, that will be a summer announcement, and it will be the third aircraft type in our fleet," he said.
After finalising the order, Riyadh Air will select freighters of the same model.
Mr Douglas said: "After we've announced the extra-wide-body order, what will follow will be a freighter confirmation. It will be the same airframe and engine choice as the extra-wide-body."
The Public Investment Fund-backed Riyadh Air in 2023 placed orders for 39 Boeing 787 Dreamliners, with options for 33 more, and for Airbus A321 Neo narrow-bodies in 2024.
The latest order hinges on "three swim lanes" of performance, pricing and slot availability as it compares each model, Mr Douglas said.
"I'd take them tomorrow morning, that's how soon we'd like them, but the reality is, with both [Boeing and Airbus], that's not going to happen any time soon," he added.
While the 777X will be a "great aircraft", the plane has yet to be certified, he said. Meanwhile, the A350-1000 is facing issues with the durability of its Rolls-Royce engine but modifications will be introduced on all deliveries in 2026-2027, he added.
"It doesn't matter which way we go, on the engines side of it we will be on the next level of evolution," Mr Douglas said. "It's a very complex evaluation. If these things were a slam dunk, they genuinely are a 51-49er when you get into this level of sophistication."
Airline debut
The start-up airline expects to take delivery of its first three 787s this year, another 10 in 2026 and then one aircraft a month thereafter, Mr Douglas said, declining to specify when the first planes will arrive.
"If we were to go to Charleston, South Carolina at the moment, we could have this conversation sat inside our fuselage," he said, referring to Boeing's production plant. "Our first three [787s] are going down the production line as we speak."
It is "only a matter of time" before the airline firms up the options for 33 Boeing 787s, leaving it with a fleet of 132 aircraft in total, Mr Douglas said.
Boeing, which changed the delivery schedule five times last year, has "stabilised" this year but "until the aircraft is on the tarmac at Riyadh airport, and I can throw my arms around it, things can change in a heartbeat", he said. "Because we are a start-up, we don't have a Plan B."
The airline will start selling tickets in "late summer" before its first commercial flight in the fourth quarter of 2025.
"The ticket-selling window will determine where we will fly to and the timing of that service, so it will be a number of destinations that we release," Mr Douglas said, declining to reveal precise dates or routes.
The "digital native" airline will set its tickets primarily on a "3.0" version of its mobile app that will be the "holy grail that most commercial airlines have been searching for decades and we've got it cracked", he said.
Riyadh Air, which has hired 500 employees, plans to add 1,000 more in the next 12 months, Mr Douglas said.
Saudi Arabia recorded an 8 per cent increase in passenger traffic to 34.9 million between January and March, according to the General Authority of Civil Aviation. A total of 21 airlines have entered the Saudi market over the past year, including China Eastern, Virgin Atlantic, Italia Trasporto Aereo (ITA Airways), Eurowings and Air China.
More than 20 new routes were established to destinations such as Rome, Hong Kong and Beijing.
THE SPECS
Engine: 4.4-litre V8
Transmission: eight-speed automatic
Power: 523hp
Torque: 750Nm
Price: Dh469,000
Student Of The Year 2
Director: Punit Malhotra
Stars: Tiger Shroff, Tara Sutaria, Ananya Pandey, Aditya Seal
1.5 stars
Du Football Champions
The fourth season of du Football Champions was launched at Gitex on Wednesday alongside the Middle East’s first sports-tech scouting platform.“du Talents”, which enables aspiring footballers to upload their profiles and highlights reels and communicate directly with coaches, is designed to extend the reach of the programme, which has already attracted more than 21,500 players in its first three years.
VEZEETA PROFILE
Date started: 2012
Founder: Amir Barsoum
Based: Dubai, UAE
Sector: HealthTech / MedTech
Size: 300 employees
Funding: $22.6 million (as of September 2018)
Investors: Technology Development Fund, Silicon Badia, Beco Capital, Vostok New Ventures, Endeavour Catalyst, Crescent Enterprises’ CE-Ventures, Saudi Technology Ventures and IFC
TUESDAY'S ORDER OF PLAY
Centre Court
Starting at 2pm:
Elina Svitolina (UKR) [3] v Jennifer Brady (USA)
Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova (RUS) v Belinda Bencic (SUI [4]
Not before 7pm:
Sofia Kenin (USA) [5] v Elena Rybakina (KAZ)
Maria Sakkari (GRE) v Aryna Sabalenka (BLR) [7]
Court One
Starting at midday:
Karolina Muchova (CZE) v Katerina Siniakova (CZE)
Kristina Mladenovic (FRA) v Aliaksandra Sasnovich (BLR)
Veronika Kudermetova (RUS) v Dayana Yastermska (UKR)
Petra Martic (CRO) [8] v Su-Wei Hsieh (TPE)
Sorana Cirstea (ROU) v Anett Kontaveit (EST)
The National's picks
4.35pm: Tilal Al Khalediah
5.10pm: Continous
5.45pm: Raging Torrent
6.20pm: West Acre
7pm: Flood Zone
7.40pm: Straight No Chaser
8.15pm: Romantic Warrior
8.50pm: Calandogan
9.30pm: Forever Young
Scorebox
Dubai Sports City Eagles 7 Bahrain 88
Eagles
Try: Penalty
Bahrain
Tries: Gibson 2, Morete 2, Bishop 2, Bell 2, Behan, Fameitau, Sanson, Roberts, Bennett, Radley
Cons: Radley 4, Whittingham 5
ENGLAND%20SQUAD
%3Cp%3EFor%20Euro%202024%20qualifers%20away%20to%20Malta%20on%20June%2016%20and%20at%20home%20to%20North%20Macedonia%20on%20June%2019%3A%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EGoalkeepers%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Johnstone%2C%20Pickford%2C%20Ramsdale.%0D%3Cbr%3E%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EDefenders%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Alexander-Arnold%2C%20Dunk%2C%20Guehi%2C%20Maguire%2C%20%20Mings%2C%20Shaw%2C%20Stones%2C%20Trippier%2C%20Walker.%0D%3Cbr%3E%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EMidfielders%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Bellingham%2C%20Eze%2C%20Gallagher%2C%20Henderson%2C%20%20Maddison%2C%20Phillips%2C%20Rice.%0D%3Cbr%3E%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EForwards%20%3C%2Fstrong%3EFoden%2C%20Grealish%2C%20Kane%2C%20Rashford%2C%20Saka%2C%20Wilson.%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
'The Lost Daughter'
Director: Maggie Gyllenhaal
Starring: Olivia Colman, Jessie Buckley, Dakota Johnson
Rating: 4/5
MOUNTAINHEAD REVIEW
Starring: Ramy Youssef, Steve Carell, Jason Schwartzman
Director: Jesse Armstrong
Rating: 3.5/5
Recent winners
2002 Giselle Khoury (Colombia)
2004 Nathalie Nasralla (France)
2005 Catherine Abboud (Oceania)
2007 Grace Bijjani (Mexico)
2008 Carina El-Keddissi (Brazil)
2009 Sara Mansour (Brazil)
2010 Daniella Rahme (Australia)
2011 Maria Farah (Canada)
2012 Cynthia Moukarzel (Kuwait)
2013 Layla Yarak (Australia)
2014 Lia Saad (UAE)
2015 Cynthia Farah (Australia)
2016 Yosmely Massaad (Venezuela)
2017 Dima Safi (Ivory Coast)
2018 Rachel Younan (Australia)
TOURNAMENT INFO
Fixtures
Sunday January 5 - Oman v UAE
Monday January 6 - UAE v Namibia
Wednesday January 8 - Oman v Namibia
Thursday January 9 - Oman v UAE
Saturday January 11 - UAE v Namibia
Sunday January 12 – Oman v Namibia
UAE squad
Ahmed Raza (captain), Rohan Mustafa, Mohammed Usman, CP Rizwan, Waheed Ahmed, Zawar Farid, Darius D’Silva, Karthik Meiyappan, Jonathan Figy, Vriitya Aravind, Zahoor Khan, Junaid Siddique, Basil Hameed, Chirag Suri
Killing of Qassem Suleimani
Scores
Day 2
New Zealand 153 & 56-1
Pakistan 227
New Zealand trail by 18 runs with nine wickets remaining
Know your cyber adversaries
Cryptojacking: Compromises a device or network to mine cryptocurrencies without an organisation's knowledge.
Distributed denial-of-service: Floods systems, servers or networks with information, effectively blocking them.
Man-in-the-middle attack: Intercepts two-way communication to obtain information, spy on participants or alter the outcome.
Malware: Installs itself in a network when a user clicks on a compromised link or email attachment.
Phishing: Aims to secure personal information, such as passwords and credit card numbers.
Ransomware: Encrypts user data, denying access and demands a payment to decrypt it.
Spyware: Collects information without the user's knowledge, which is then passed on to bad actors.
Trojans: Create a backdoor into systems, which becomes a point of entry for an attack.
Viruses: Infect applications in a system and replicate themselves as they go, just like their biological counterparts.
Worms: Send copies of themselves to other users or contacts. They don't attack the system, but they overload it.
Zero-day exploit: Exploits a vulnerability in software before a fix is found.
