The planned airline Riyadh Air has not yet operated a single flight. This should happen next year, 2025. The capital of Saudi Arabia is set to gradually transform into a large international hub capable of handling 120 million passengers per year.

Things are currently rather quiet and leisurely at Riyadh Airport – compared to other capital airports in this geographical region. That is about to change, because the airport is to be expanded into one of the largest air traffic hubs in the world. With Riyadh Air, a new network carrier is being set up - in addition to the country's existing airlines. It can be assumed that this is intended to provide a lot of competition to other Gulf carriers, such as Etihad Airways, Qatar Airways and Emirates Airline.

However, those responsible repeatedly emphasize that they are creating something completely new and are in no way copying the business models of existing competitors. In any case, the newly founded airline plays a key role in Saudi Arabia's tourism strategy. This is intended to bring visitors from all over the world to the desert state. The aim is only secondarily to switchers. There is probably a good reason for this, because only tourists who actually spend a stay in Saudi Arabia bring money into the country.

In an interview with Wirtschaftswoche, Riyadh Air manager Vincent Coste explicitly emphasizes that the primary aim is to connect the world with Saudi Arabia. Flights to/from Germany would be a high priority because there is assumed to be great potential in the area of ​​private and business travel. However, deputy managing director Tony Douglas has not yet named any specific destinations that they want to go to in Germany.

There may be a good reason for this, as there may still be a lot to discuss at the diplomatic level. The bilateral air traffic agreement would have to be adjusted because Flynas and Saudia, among others, already fly to destinations in the Federal Republic of Germany. But it should be no secret that Frankfurt am Main and Munich will be on Riyadh Air's radar as the largest airports. If necessary, you can also look at other German airports. Management has not yet commented on Austria and Switzerland.