Riyadh Air CEO: Boeing Must Deliver On 787 Promise

PARIS—Riyadh Air CEO Tony Douglas has stressed the importance of Boeing meeting its 2025 commitments amid the company’s ongoing supply chain issues that have held up 737 MAX and 787 deliveries. 

Speaking June 18 at an event ahead of the Paris Air Show 2023, Douglas emphasized that the Saudi startup is unlike other carriers because  it does not have existing aircraft to fall back on. Riyadh Air placed an order in March for 39 787-9s with options for a further 33. 

“A big element [of the order] was being able to deliver against the timetable we’ve got—and they have made those commitments,” Douglas said. 

“Everybody knows just how complex this environment is—we're talking about enormous global supply chains that have had a number of challenges in recent history—but nonetheless, that is a commitment that Boeing has got into.”

The March order was part of a wider deal alongside fellow Saudi Arabian carrier Saudia for a combined 121 787s. Riyadh Air, backed by the country’s Public Investment Fund, is targeting a launch date of early 2025 using the widebodies. 

“If [Boeing is] late with us, it’s not as if we can extend leases, and it’s not as if we can slow down the network expansion—we don't have any leases, we don't have any aircraft, and we don't have a network,” Douglas said. “It is dependent on those deliveries.” 

He added there was a “very mature understanding” that Riyadh Air is not like other airline customers because it doesn’t have a fallback. “Those machines need to be delivered to us in early 2025,” Douglas said.

Riyadh Air is “actively engaged” in discussions for a narrowbody order—rumored to include about 150 737 MAXs—although Douglas confirmed that no order would be placed during the 54th Paris Air Show. However, he explained that narrowbodies would be used on domestic routes within Saudi Arabia, as well as routes within the region of sub-six hours. 

Douglas stressed that key to Riyadh Air’s selection process for wide- and narrowbody orders was environmental performance, saying that the new carrier has to be the “absolute gold leader when it comes to commercial aviation sustainability.”

He added: “It will be commercial aviation sustainability that will differentiate the winners and the losers, and anybody who doesn't take it seriously will probably fail.”