Riyadh Air is a Finalist for Best Long-Haul Airline at the
2026 Travelling for Business Awards — a remarkable line on the CV of an airline whose
first commercial flight departed only in October 2025. No other name in the category has travelled from launch to Finalist so quickly, and the nomination says much about how Saudi Arabia's new flag carrier has introduced itself to the market.
London was, deliberately, the opening statement. The inaugural Boeing 787-9 service linked King Khalid International with Heathrow, and the route has anchored the operation since, with
public ticket sales opening in May 2026 and regular scheduled services carrying paying passengers from July. Manchester followed onto the booking map as the network built out, and the airline now offers seats to around fifteen destinations across Europe, the Gulf, Africa and Asia — Madrid, Málaga, Dubai, Jeddah, Cairo, Mumbai, Bangkok and Kuala Lumpur among them — a pace of expansion that reflects its stated ambition of serving more than 100 cities by 2030.
The proposition is unashamedly premium and digital-first. Backed by Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund, the carrier has designed its Dreamliner cabins from a clean sheet, launched the Sfeer loyalty programme alongside the brand, and assembled partnerships early — most notably a strategic agreement with Delta Air Lines that promises connectivity across North America as the network matures. An order for sixty Airbus A321neo-family aircraft signals the regional feed to come, while investments such as a dedicated chauffeur service and the Hafawa Lounge in Riyadh show a start-up thinking hard about the ground experience corporate travellers actually use, not just the aircraft they sit in.
For UK business flyers, Riyadh Air arrives as the Kingdom's Vision 2030 programme draws ever more corporate traffic to the Gulf: a modern fleet, a fresh product and a schedule built around the London–Riyadh corridor. The first year has also put the operational scaffolding in place, from a major ground-handling agreement covering Saudi airports to a brand identity — complete with an Abbey Road-recorded sonic signature — built to travel well beyond the Kingdom. A Finalist's place in 2026 recognises audacity backed by delivery — an airline that promised a new standard and has begun, visibly, to fly it. The winners will be announced at the 2026 Travelling for Business Awards, and whatever the result, no carrier in the field has more momentum.
