Riyadh Air plans new jet order decision early next year

Saudi startup Riyadh Air is wading back into the jet market after buying dozens of Airbus and Boeing planes and aims to finalise a new deal involving the industry's largest twin-aisle jets early next year, its CE said. The country's newest national airline is weighing up the Boeing 777X and the Airbus A350-1000 and expects to make a decision in the first or second quarters of 2025, CEO Tony Douglas told Reuters. Riyadh Air last year ordered 39 Boeing 787 wide-body jets with options for another 33 as part of a wider deal also involving national carrier Saudia, and last week it added a firm order for 60 Airbus A321neo-family aircraft. Douglas declined to comment on the size of the new order but reiterated that the airline, which plans to start operations next year, ultimately aimed to operate more than 200 aircraft.<br/>Douglas told Reuters in a separate interview last week that Riyadh Air would start formal talks for a new order for large wide-body aircraft within two months. The roughly 200-seat A321neo is an in-demand single-aisle aircraft that competes with the larger versions of Boeing 737 MAX. Airbus says it is sold out through the rest of the decade. Despite the long lead times for most new purchases, Douglas said the A321neos would be delivered between the second half of 2026 and the end of 2030 and hinted at further purchases. "That puts us right back in the standard order window with Airbus so the door is wide open," he said.<br/>