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Riyadh Air And Huawei Partnership To Shape Future Of Air Travel
Saudi Arabia’s new national carrier is leaning on the Chinese tech giant’s cloud and consumer reach to shape its digital strategy.
Riyadh Air has signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Huawei as it lays down the digital foundations of its operations ahead of launch, putting technology at the center of the carrier’s expansion plans.
The agreement outlines a phased collaboration across cloud infrastructure, artificial intelligence, digital marketing, loyalty platforms and mobility services. While long-term in scope, the initial push has already been outlined: China, alongside a small set of priority international markets where Riyadh Air is seeking early scale.
The MoU formalizes work already taking shape between the two companies around smart aviation and digital systems. For Riyadh Air, the goal is to operate as a digital-first airline from day one, rather than layering technology onto legacy processes later. Huawei will support the carrier’s broader digital build-out, drawing on its experience in cloud, AI and consumer-facing ecosystems.
China sits at the core of the strategy: Around 20% of smartphone users in the country use Huawei devices, giving Riyadh Air access to a tightly controlled digital environment shaped by local platforms and habits. The airline plans to tailor market-specific journeys covering ticket selection, booking and in-trip engagement.
“[The] China market is an important part of Riyadh Air’s global expansion and essential to Saudi Arabia’s tourism growth,” said Vincent Coste, chief commercial officer of Riyadh Air. “As the Kingdom raises its target to 150 million tourists by 2030 our partnership with Huawei strengthens our ability to deliver the digital, seamless and personalized journey Chinese guests travelers expect”.
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Coste said the airline aims to act as a bridge between Saudi Arabia and China, and Huawei’s consumer footprint — more than 730 million monthly active users worldwide — is expected to help introduce travelers to the new carrier’s digital lifestyle ecosystem, Sfeer.
Riyadh Air plans to serve more than 100 destinations by 2030. As competition among Gulf carriers tightens, the airline is betting that a tightly integrated digital technology stack, built early and tuned to outbound markets like China, can set it apart.
News
Microsoft Plans $10 Billion-Plus Gulf Expansion Despite Iran Conflict
Security is shaping Microsoft’s approach, from resilience work with governments to what it will say about how the money splits by country.
Microsoft is planning more than $10 billion of investment across the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Kuwait through 2030, Vice Chair and President Brad Smith told Reuters, calling the spending schedule aggressive. The Iranian conflict that began on February 28 has not persuaded the company to scale back.
“We’re sustaining all the investments we planned to make before this conflict started, and we are in fact adding to them,” Smith said. The $10 billion-plus total does not, however, show how large those additions are.
The investment, which Smith described as part of Microsoft’s continued infrastructure expansion, is aimed at cloud and AI infrastructure and at the company’s growing regional operations. Microsoft also intends to put more than $400 million into subsea and terrestrial connectivity across the Middle East by 2030.
The spending fits the region’s own ambitions too. Gulf governments have been investing heavily in AI infrastructure as part of a push to diversify their economies beyond oil and gas and turn themselves into global technology hubs. Major cloud and AI providers have been drawn in part by the land and relatively low-cost energy on offer.
Microsoft is widening its partnerships with regional AI companies, though not on identical terms. In 2024, it invested $1.5 billion in Abu Dhabi-based G42 for a minority stake, and Smith currently sits on G42’s board. Saudi Arabia’s Humain and Qatar’s Qai are working with Microsoft on selected priority areas, but Smith said the company does not plan to make capital investments in either.
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The conflict has added another strand to Microsoft’s work in the region. Since it began, Smith said, the company has supported regional partners with digital resilience assessments, and it is now working with Gulf countries through a digital resilience initiative focused on preparedness and the protection of critical data.
So far, the company has given no country-by-country breakdown of the investment, citing security among other factors. So while the headline figure is public, how Microsoft divides the spending among the four countries is not.
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