Riyadh Air's new cabin design aspires to be 'Audrey Hepburn of the sky'

Riyadh Air has unveiled its first cabin interior designs before starting commercial flights later this year, as it seeks to stand out in a market where Gulf airlines are vying to offer premium seats and luxury experiences. The Saudi Arabian start-up will have a four-class configuration on its Boeing 787-9 planes featuring business elite, business, premium economy and economy cabins, it said. The 787 Dreamliner, with capacity for 290 passengers, will feature four seats in business elite, 24 in business, 39 in premium economy and 223 economy-class seats. The premium-economy seats from Recaro are the same model that Emirates has installed, which "most people would say, and I certainly will acknowledge, is the best premium economy out there", Tony Douglas, CE of Riyadh Air, told The National. The Saudi airline is hoping to outdo that with its choice of materials and design. Riyadh Air's "premium-economy cabin is probably better than most business-class cabins in many European and North American carriers", he said. "Through the art of design, we tried to bring back that glamorous, elevated proposition: if I were to put a persona to this, I wanted it to be the Audrey Hepburn of the sky, that timeless, glamorous cache of how you present elegance." The airline worked with London-based industrial studio PriestmanGoode on the design, a process that took 18 months to "elevate" passengers' flying experience with a polished look of glamour, refinement and grace, Mr Douglas said, pointing to highlighting the golden age of aviation with Pan Am flights in the 1960s.<br/>