Riyadh Air Eyes India Growth, Adds 2nd Destination by Year-End

Mumbai, Aug 5 (PTI) Saudi Arabia's latest carrier Riyadh Air sees India as one of the priority markets for its future growth as it aims to add a second destination in the world's fastest-growing aviation market by the year-end, following the launch of its services to Mumbai, a top airline official said on Wednesday.

On August 4, Riyadh Air commenced its daily flight services to India's financial capital with a Boeing 787-9 aircraft, making it airline's 8th destination since it started operations with a flight to London on June 10.

"We see India as one of the priority markets for growth in the future. India is a huge market, a very diverse market," Riyadh Air Chief Commercial Officer Vincent Coste told PTI.

He said Riyadh Air has launched the Mumbai flight as its first Indian destination because "we see very strong traffic, both in terms of passengers and in terms of cargo, both ways."

Coste said that the beauty of destinations such as Mumbai is that they have flyers from multiple segments -- corporate, leisure, the religious and VFR (visiting friends and relatives) -- on the same aircraft.

"So, you have a healthy diversity of traffic segments enabling a better performance. And when it comes to cargo, the origin Mumbai is great because you have perishable, pharmaceutical products, retail and you have industrial products," he said.

So again, it's a very diverse array of different products that would help filling up the bellies of this aircraft, he said, adding, "So, Mumbai is the typical destination that for us makes sense when we start a network. Down the road, we see India as one of our most strategic markets.".

The Riyadh-Mumbai route offers onward connections for guests travelling from Mumbai to destinations across the Middle East and Europe, the airline said, adding the new route connects two major commercial centres and responds to strong demand for travel between Saudi Arabia and India.

Saudi Arabia is India's second-largest international market, with 308,000 scheduled seats in July 2026, according to OAG.


"We see a great opportunity for the Indian market with Riyadh Air, which is one pillar of Vision 2030. And one of the big pillars is to be a hub for Saudi Arabia. And what's interesting with Riyadh is that it's a city of over 9 million people. So we have a massive point-to-point market and we are not highly dependent on transfer traffic like other big hubs in the region. We are focusing for our starting years on point-to-point and established direct connectivity between Riyadh and the world," he said.

Noting that it is estimated that an over 50 per cent of people going from Riyadh to Southeast Asia are connecting through a hub in the region as there is no direct connectivity, he said, "So our main purpose as we are starting our operations is to connect Riyadh, the biggest city in the entire GCC, to the big markets or the big destinations in the region.".

Coste said that the airline has either already announced or will announce more destinations in Asia and Europe and added that it aims to have around 15 destinations across its network by this year-end, and this number is expected to touch 20 or 22 by March next year.

"And then by the end of next year, we'll be above 40. And as we receive all these aircraft, we'll extend our network. So by the end of 2030, we'll be at roughly 100 destinations covering the entire world," he stated.

Coste said that Riyadh Air was in discussions with the Indian authorities (for more destinations), adding that "we would aim at flying to two destinations (in India) by the end of the year".

The airline, he said, has ordered 72 Dreamliners and will induct later this year its first A321S, with plans to take deliveries of 60 A321S by 2030.

"And towards the end of this decade, our first A350-1000 will also be delivered into the fleet. So the ambition is big," he said.

"So, as we are going to grow to 100 destinations by the end of 2030, we are looking forward to expanding our footprint in India. And again, we will give priority to these destinations that have a diversity of traffic flows and that support demand both from Saudi Arabia and from India," he said.

In terms of the near future as we are going to start to build connectivity through Riyadh, then we will look at these flows that are new for the Indian market and make sure that we connect them through Riyadh, he stated.

"So, we see India as one of the priority markets for growth in the future. India is a huge market. India is a very diverse market. You have a healthy mix of tourism, corporate traffic, religious traffic, and visiting friends and relatives. There is a huge Indian diaspora in Saudi Arabia also. So for us, that's the perfect market where to invest in the coming years," Coste said.