The new airline of Saudi Arabia aims to establish the rich of first class cabins

The first class benefits from a resurgence – and the new airline of Saudi Arabia plans to include the elite cabin on some of its planes.

Riyadh Air is speaking of a third type of planes in addition to his orders for dozens of Airbus A321neos and Boeing 787 Dreamliners.

“We are also involved in an extra-high-body campaign,” CEO Tony Douglas told Business Insider, in a reference to the largest types of planes such as Airbus A350 or Boeing 777x.

He said these planes would “almost” include a first class cabin.

Douglas’ comments come when more and more airlines are betting on the most sumptuous level, especially in Europe.

The first of Air France, which made its debut this month, has two seats and takes the length of five windows.

The Lufthansa first class alleris was launched in November with ceiling floor walls and a double bed. British Airways plans to modernize its Airbus A380s with new first class suites entering service next year.

Their plans have followed an influx of rich Americans visiting Europe since the end of the pandemic. New suites increase the bar because first -class aerial declines are generally five figures, so that some customers that wealthy could also afford to travel by private plane.

A startup as ambitious as Riyadh Air would also like to compete for the richest travelers.

As part of the Saudi Arabia Vision 2030 plan to diversify its economy, the new airline hopes to help attract more tourists in the kingdom. He would probably transform Riyad into a travel center with a model of concentrator and atbores similar to other carriers of the Middle East such as Emirates and Etihad, where Douglas was CEO.

An opulent first -class cabin would help Riyadh to display a luxury level at least equal to its competitors. Saudi Arabia is the richest country in the Middle East and ranks 19th in the world for GDP.

Starting a new airline is a difficult task, especially since demand faces constraints with the economic uncertainty of President Donald Trump’s commercial prices.

However, Douglas underlined the data from credit card companies showing that from the pandemic, some people are more interested in paying experiences such as travel.

“Because the kingdom increases to the rhythm it does, because the population is large and young, we see no sign of (travel request) of slowing down,” he said.

“The market already exists, so it’s not as if we are playing trying to build a market. We are completely in hand in the kingdom.”

The airline unveiled its cabin interiors for the Boeing 787 on Saturday. It has a first row of four “Business Elite” seats with 32 -inch televisions, which, according to the carrier, are the most important of any business class.

In the center, the deletion of the divider essentially creates a double bed similar to the Qsuite of Qatar, named the best business class in the world by Skytrax.

Douglas told BI that he was particularly proud of design details such as digital lights from the suite, marble veins and “Mocha Gold” color accents.

Despite the huge ticket prices, the first class is generally less profitable than business class. This is because the suites occupy a lot of space on board and offer the best amenities.

American Airlines is the only American carrier to offer it, and on a fraction of its long-haul jets. Qatar Airways turned away from first class, saying rather that his Qsuite business class is just as good.

Douglas spoke in the same way as the Elite Elite consequences of Riyadh Air, but still considers the cream of the cream.

He said the airline had decided not to include first class in its initial fleet due to “uncertainty” around the supply chain.

Launch period

Aircraft seats have been a particular difficulty since the international supply chains ravaged by the pandemic, delaying airplane deliveries. The CEO of Air India, Campbell Wilson, had previously told Bi how much he wanted “these whores of seats to have installed on the plane”.

Riyadh Air hoped before starting to fly this spring, but was hampered by Boeing’s delivery delays while the plan of the plan of the plan of the plan of the plan of the plan of the plan of the plan of the plan of the plan of the plan of the plan of the plan of the plan of the plan of the plan of the plan of the plan of the plan of the plan of the plan of the plan of the plan of the plan of the plan of the plan of the plan of the plan of the plan of the plan of the plan of the plan of the plan of the plan of the plan of the plan of the plane plan to deal with a security and quality crisis.

Douglas told Bi that Riyadh Air was on the right track to take off in the last three months of 2025.