Riyadh Air

[leesionn]

It doesn't appear the UAE gave a clear reason as to why.

Saudia and Riyadh Air are both government-owned.

If the government wanted to shift a slot from Saudia to Riyadh, would the UAE let them? If not, it's not about capacity, but who is providing it, which might give some insight into how much of a threat the UAE fears Riyadh Air could be to their carriers.

I think a lot of Riyadh Air’s (initial) destinations are slots transferred from Saudia as the latter relocates to Jeddah as Riyadh Air grows.

I imagine the UAE are probably concerned about Riyadh Air, and also I don’t think the UAE and Saudi Arabia have been the best of friends lately too

 

[FlyingKangaroo]

I think a lot of Riyadh Air’s (initial) destinations are slots transferred from Saudia as the latter relocates to Jeddah as Riyadh Air grows.

I imagine the UAE are probably concerned about Riyadh Air, and also I don’t think the UAE and Saudi Arabia have been the best of friends lately too

If the request was to transfer existing Saudia slots to Riyadh and that was rejected, that indeed tells the story. If they were requests for new slots, I'd still be curious as to whether they'd have any better luck transferring from Saudia. I still wonder what's to become of Saudia in the future...

Agree they're likely concerned about Riyadh Air and while relations have been complicated, overall they've improved a lot in the last few years despite the current Iran situation, so while it's just speculative, I do suspect it has more to do with the hype around Riyadh Air than a general, geopolitical snub aimed at Riyadh itself.

 

[leesionn]

Interview with Tony Douglas from around 3 minutes he’s said they expect 3 more 787s by end of June, 2 more in July (bringing them to 8 total), a rate of one per month from August and their first A321neo from late this year with 22 destinations by March.