Riyadh Air Set to Begin Commercial Operations

First commercial flight to happen in 2025, what needs to happen between now and then in order to take to the sky so to speak. Jimana, good morning. First of all, it’s fantastic to be in Dubai for ATM week and obviously Arabian travel, that’s what it’s all about. South Riyadh, ur going live summer next year. Probably the biggest start up that this region’s seen within the last 40 years. The Kingdom desperately needs better connectivity, connecting of course its citizens to the world and the world to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. So at the moment we’re scaling up at incredible pace and last year we were teasing everybody with what we’re doing. We’re going to reveal a lot more in the coming months. Oh, I like that fashion. Think of Paris, think of Paris in the summer. Couldn’t be a better place to release our cabin crew. Fashion. Think, Catch me if you can. Think DiCaprio going through the airports in those TWA days. Think style, elegance, grace. Think Riyadh with a modern twist. Think about that. Paris later on in the year as well. All of the digital promises we’ve been making, we’re going to reveal them. So the technology that we use in lots of other ways in our normal lives will come to the world of commercial aviation. Well, you’re teasing a lot of announcements. Hopefully you’re going to make them on Bloomberg right here with me. But when it comes to the fleets, I’m very interested in what you are planning on doing there. I know last March you announced that you had ordered 72 Dreamliner jets, but in November you also said that you’re going to make an announcement regarding a quote, sizeable number of narrow body aircraft in the next few months. It’s now May obviously and we still haven’t got that announcement. Why the delay? So we need a very large fleet. We’re going to make a number of additional orders. You’re absolutely right, Jimana. We made a big order last year with 787. We will be making a narrow body order. We’ll probably be doing another large order after that to build us up to scale because as I referenced before, one of the biggest start-ups in recent history. We’re talking at connecting to well over 100 destinations. So we need that big fleet. Well, of course, in this respect, you’re dealing with Boeing and there have been many issues sort of prevailing at Boeing change in management safety concerns. Let me just ask you a question about the delivery schedule. Because of everything that is happening at Boeing, do you expect there to be a delay in terms of the delivery of these jets? I don’t think there’s a day that goes by at the moment without Boeing being in the headlines, perhaps for many of the wrong reasons. Have they got challenges? Yes, they have. Do herbals have challenges on delivery conformance? Yes, they do. So it’s a kind of risk that we’re very conscious of and one of the things about a start up of course is we have no legacy, that’s a real gift. However, the flip side of that is we don’t have existing aircraft where we can extend leases. We don’t have a network where we can play around with it if they deliver late. So our focus is on our supply chain to support us as a start up. We are different as a function of being that start up and we need special care. Have there been discussions around the terms of the deal regarding the narrow body jets? Yeah, so with in terms of narrow body, there’s just too much noise in the marketplace at the moment. So we don’t think it’s appropriate to make any announcements until we need to, right. So again, tease and reveal, Jimana, hold that thought. OK. OK. One more question on Boeing because it is important and our viewers do care a lot about safety, what what needs to be done at the management level to allay people’s concerns about safety of these planes and and you know you being one of their customers as well. What would you like to see out of new management, the new CEO. So I think everybody understands that the safest form of travel is commercial aviation. There’s no question the statistics make that quite clear. There have been unacceptable situations that Boeing have been dealing with in recent times, again, all over the media, everybody’s well aware of it. Quality management systems are non negotiable. They need to be rigorously adhered to in the world of commercial aviation and I think this will act as a reset for Boeing leadership. We had a great relationship with the previous leadership team. I’m actually going out to Seattle from here, Dubai tomorrow morning. We’ve got a great relationship with the team going forward, but just like herbos, just like all of the rest of us in a safety conscious industry, they’ve got to stay absolutely focused and get back to basics. No, absolutely, very clear. Let’s go back to that 2025 launch. It’s not just about the planes. You’ve also got to hire people, you’ve got to hire cabin career, you’ve got to hire pilots. How difficult has it been to attract talent because we hear about a crunch going on in that space. So I think we’ve been very fortunate up to now, but we don’t want to get ahead of ourselves. Our first cabin crew actually started this morning, talk about great timing. Our Khadra pilot started just over a month ago. So we’re getting into that stage now where in September we’ll start flying for our test, flying for our AOC, our certification process. But the statistic that really amazes me, and I can’t even give a good explanation as to the reasons why Go on riadir.com. Like all good websites, there’s a career page on the career page. It allows you of your pilots, cabin crew, management, engineering to load your details up. It takes some time. So it’s not just my name’s Shimana send and you figured I just started at Bloomberg so I’m not going to start applying, but think about where next because up to now, and this is the bit Shimana that’s really pleasantly surprised US, 1.1 million people have applied to be considered to be part of the Riyadh earth family and that’s simply incredible. Is the compensation more competitive than than other parts of the market? Are you paying up for these applicants? So that’s 146 different nationalities. In terms of those applicants, I think primarily what’s attracted them is it’s been decreed by its Royal Highness, so most people would conclude it’s not might happen, could happen or should happen. It’s going to happen. It’s a fresh, vibrant, innovative brand and it’s commercial aviation and everybody loves commercial aviation. Final, very quick one, I was coming back from Riyadh last week and I got on one of the biggest planes I’ve I’ve ever seen, a double Decker plane. Would you say that the Riyadh, Dubai routes is going to be one of your most profitable routes when you when you launch next year? Almost certainly, yes. I think in the world league table rankings of most profitable routes, I think Dubai, Riyadh comes in at #6. I think #4 from memory is actually Riyadh to Jeddah. MMM, the Kingdom is alive with energy. Yeah, economically vibrant. And all roads lead in that direction at the moment. Jumana.