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New Premium Airline Riyadh Air Prepares For Late 2025 Takeoff

The ultra-premium service has already begun forging strong partnership and sponsor deals, and plans to connect 100 cities by 2030.

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2 years ago

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new premium airline riyadh air prepares for late 2025 takeoff

Saudi Arabia’s latest airline venture, Riyadh Air, is gearing up for its first flights in late 2025. With a strong emphasis on digital innovation, premium service, and strategic alliances, the airline is poised to shake up the aviation sector.

“By the end of this year, you will see Riyadh Air in the skies,” CEO Tony Douglas announced at the Saudi-backed Future Investment Initiative conference. His message was clear: the airline is fully prepared to serve both domestic and international travelers.

As a key player in the Kingdom’s Vision 2030 initiative, Riyadh Air has been rapidly building international partnerships, such as its latest collaboration with LIV Golf. The airline was also responsible for bringing singer Jameela to Saudi Arabia for the first time.

CEO Douglas has ambitious hopes of Riyadh Air bringing back the golden age of aviation, comparing it to iconic carriers like TWA and Pan Am. He promised “haute couture, glamour, refinement, and style” from the airline’s cabin experience, setting a high bar for service and aesthetics.

Despite a desire to bring back the glory days of commercial aviation, Riyadh Air is still adopting a modern, digital-first approach. An AI-driven concierge service will integrate travel bookings with entertainment and dining options, with CEO Tony Douglas likening the system’s intuitive capabilities to platforms like Amazon, Uber, and Airbnb.

Douglas sees vast potential in the Saudi aviation market, calling it “underserved” and ready for growth. Riyadh Air has already secured connectivity agreements with major carriers like Delta Air Lines and Singapore Airlines, ensuring smooth connections to international destinations.

“With Delta, for example, a passenger flying from Riyadh can easily connect to Phoenix or Baltimore via Atlanta or JFK,” Douglas explained, highlighting the convenience of the partnership.

Also Read: Dubai Teams Up With Elon Musk’s Boring Company For “Dubai Loop”

The airline’s fleet plans include commissioning 72 Boeing 787s and 60 Airbus A321neos, with negotiations ongoing for additional widebody aircraft. Despite Boeing’s recent delivery issues, Douglas remains confident: “Boeing will come good, there is no question”.

By 2030, Riyadh Air aims to serve 100 global destinations, with Miami among the cities under review. Douglas pointed to Saudi Arabia’s rising tourism profile, noting that it was the second most-searched travel destination on Google last year, thanks to attractions like Diriyah, AlUla, and Riyadh itself.

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NEOPAY Wants To Follow Merchants Across Channels And Borders

A controlling 65% stake in noon payments would give NEOPAY access to marketplace sellers, online merchants and the payment flows they generate.

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1 day ago

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October 5, 2026

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neopay wants to follow merchants across channels and borders

It’s been a long time since checkouts were single defined places. A merchant might take payments at a physical register, on its own website and through an online marketplace, sometimes in more than one country. NEOPAY wants to follow those transactions wherever they happen.

The UAE payments company has entered into an agreement to acquire a 65% controlling stake in noon payments. NEOPAY already runs the acquiring infrastructure that lets merchants accept card payments, along with omnichannel acceptance and a merchant services platform. This new deal would add noon payments’ embedded payments platform, e-commerce gateway and merchant network across the UAE, Saudi Arabia and Egypt. That would considerably expand both NEOPAY’s digital commerce capabilities and its regional reach.

For merchants, the attraction is a single provider for online and in-store payments, plus faster settlements, data and analytics, and value-added financial services.

“Payments should be simple, reliable, and built for the markets they serve,” said Faraz Khalid, CEO of noon. His counterpart at NEOPAY, Vibhor Mundhada, added: “We have built a strong payments business in the UAE, and our ambition is now to take that capability across the region”. The acquisition, Mundhada added, would “expand our footprint into Saudi Arabia and Egypt” while reinforcing NEOPAY’s position at home.

Also Read: In Kuwait, Your Surgeon Might Be Operating From Another Country

NEOPAY is also keen to point out potential payment volume increases. The company says noon payments’ integrations with marketplace sellers and online merchants create high transaction density in some of the region’s fastest-growing digital commerce segments. It also believes control of the business would give it access to those merchant relationships and payment flows, and speed up the rollout of alternative payment methods and installment options.

The combined roadmap targets faster merchant onboarding, better payment performance, tighter fraud controls and embedded financial services. The deal could also strengthen cross-border payments and settlement along key regional commerce corridors.

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