Riyadh Air (RX) Guide

Riyadh Air is a new Saudi airline backed by the Public Investment Fund, flying Boeing 787-9s from King Khalid International Airport.

Please note: bookingMentor is an independent travel service and is not affiliated with Riyadh Air. Routes, schedules and baggage rules change, so always confirm the details of your booking with the airline.

What to expect

Riyadh Air is the newest airline in Saudi Arabia, set up in March 2023 by the country's Public Investment Fund and run by chief executive Tony Douglas. It operated its first commercial flight, to London Heathrow, on 26 October 2025 and began carrying the general public on its own new Boeing 787-9 Dreamliners in June 2026. Its base is King Khalid International Airport in Riyadh.

South Asia was one of the first regions on the map. A daily Riyadh to Dhaka service started in August 2026, with the first arrival at Hazrat Shahjalal International on 8 August, flown as RX763 outbound and RX764 back on the 787-9. Biman and Saudia were the only nonstop airlines on the pair before it; compare them on Dhaka to Riyadh and Riyadh to Dhaka.

Thailand followed on 2 September 2026, when Riyadh Air launched nonstop flights between Riyadh and Bangkok Suvarnabhumi. The service started three times a week and is scheduled to become daily from 9 November 2026. See our Riyadh to Bangkok and Bangkok to Riyadh pages for the current choice of airlines.

The rest of the network is still small but growing quickly: London Heathrow, Manchester, Madrid, Cairo, Dubai, Mumbai, Islamabad, Lahore, Kuala Lumpur, Manila and Jeddah are on the list, with Jakarta due from 16 November 2026 and Milan Malpensa from 16 December 2026. Riyadh Air is not in an alliance, but it has codeshare deals with Saudia, Turkish Airlines, Singapore Airlines, Delta, Air France–KLM and several others.

Who owns Riyadh Air and why was it created?

Riyadh Air belongs entirely to Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund, and its chairman is Yasir Al-Rumayyan, the fund's governor. Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman announced the airline on 12 March 2023 as the kingdom's second flag carrier, alongside Jeddah-based Saudia. The government expects it to add about US$20 billion to non-oil GDP and to support more than 200,000 direct and indirect jobs, and the stated aim is to serve 100 destinations by 2030.

Chief executive Tony Douglas ran Etihad Airways from January 2018 to October 2022 before taking the job. The airline received its RX code and showed its first livery on 4 June 2023, painted on a Boeing-owned 787-9 test aircraft. A second, mostly white livery appeared at the 2025 Paris Air Show.

What makes Riyadh Air different behind the scenes?

The airline was built around new retailing technology. It uses the FLYR platform for offers and orders, which makes it the first airline to sell entirely through the IATA ONE Order standard with no legacy ticketing system, and Amadeus distributes its fares to travel agents through NDC. In practice, passengers mostly notice this in the app and website, where seats, bags and upgrades are sold in one basket.

Riyadh Cargo, the freight arm, was set up on 21 January 2026, and Pakistan International Airlines has signed a cargo agreement with it. The RX Pay co-branded Mastercard, which earns Sfeer points, was announced on 23 July 2026.

Sponsorship and brand

Football fans met the name before the planes. Riyadh Air became Atletico Madrid's shirt sponsor in 2023 and bought the naming rights to the club's Metropolitano stadium in 2024, and it is also the official airline of CONCACAF, the football confederation for North and Central America and the Caribbean.

Partners on the codeshare map

The full list of codeshare partners reported in late 2026 runs to Air China, Air France-KLM, Air Europa, Air India, All Nippon Airways, China Eastern, Delta Air Lines, EgyptAir, Saudia, Singapore Airlines, Turkish Airlines and Virgin Atlantic. These deals let travellers book onward flights from Riyadh, London or Madrid on one ticket.