‘Indians among our biggest job applicants:’ Riyadh Air CEO Tony Douglas

NEW DELHI:

Aviation industry

personnel in India have made a beeline for joining Saudi Arabia’s soon to be launched second national carrier Riyadh Air. The airline website’s career portal has been open for two years on which pilots, cabin crew members, ground, maintenance staff and others can evince interest by submitting their details. “In the last two years, we have received 14 lakh applications from 146 nationalities of which 52% are women. India is one of the biggest source countries for the applications. We are overwhelmed by the interest and faith in our brand despite the fact that so far we have not announced any salary structures,”

Riyadh Air

CEO

Tony Douglas

said here Wednesday.
The upcoming full service airline has ordered up to 132 aircraft, Airbus A321neos and Boeing 787 Dreamliners. It is currently in talks with both Boeing and Airbus for placing orders for ultra long range wide bodies with the choice being between the B777 9X and A350-1000. It currently has one aircraft and 500 employees, including 36 cabin crew and pilots each. “After Saudis, the second biggest nationality of employees is Indians. Ditto for the population of Singapore,” he said.
The airline, which is going to start operations in a few months, says India is a key market for it. “In 2024 Saudi Arabia saw 15 lakh tourists from India which was a 50% jump over previous year. Ninety-three per cent of flyers at Riyadh are point to point and just 7% are in transit. That shows the scope of growth from India as well as of our connecting potential from our hub, Riyadh, as our fleet grows. Nearby Doha has 80% transfer traffic and the figures for Dubai are also very high,” Douglas said.
The Saudi Tourism Authority aims to welcome 75 lakh visitors from India per annum by the close of the decade. Unlike Dubai, Qatar, Singapore and many other countries/regions, Saudi still has a lot of unutilized bilaterals or flying rights for India that Riyadh Air will use. The CEO and his team are meeting both IndiGo and Air India management to discuss partnerships with them. “We have made good partnerships like Delta for North America; two airlines in China and some other countries. We have two gaps, one in northwestern Europe and the other in India which is a huge market,” he said. The Riyadh Air delegation will meet the officials at the Directorate General of Civil Aviation and Embassy of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia for “requisite permissions and support to launch India operations.”

Douglas said

:

“India has long been a crucial part of Riyadh Air’s network planning ahead of our operations launch. India is a beautiful nation which will play a big part in the success story of our airline, as travel and business opportunities multiply with the expanded offerings we are set to provide. Beyond connecting people, fostering economic growth, and enhancing and diversifying the Saudi Arabian and Indian tourism sectors, Riyadh Air’s network will help develop even stronger bonds between the two great countries.”