4 New Routes: Inside Riyadh Air's Unstoppable Boeing 787 Global Expansion

Riyadh Air has opened reservations for four new international routes from its King Khalid International Airport (RUH) hub, rapidly expanding the Saudi startup carrier’s network. The airline will launch twice-weekly short-haul services to Pakistan — Islamabad (seven times weekly from August 14) and Lahore (three times weekly from August 18) — and longer-haul flights to Bangkok (four times weekly from September 2) and Manila (daily from September 9). All four routes will be operated with the Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner.

"Following the recent launch of full operations, guests have been hugely impressed with the Riyadh Air experience onboard our current fleet of six Boeing 787 jets," said CEO Tony Douglas in a statement last month.

Network details and schedule

The Islamabad service is scheduled to operate seven times per week beginning August 14, providing daily connectivity between Riyadh and Pakistan's capital. Lahore will be served three times weekly from August 18. Both Pakistan routes are planned on the 787-9, reflecting Riyadh Air’s approach of deploying long-range widebodies even on relatively short regional sectors.

Riyadh Air’s southeast Asian push includes a four-times-weekly link to Bangkok starting September 2 and a daily Manila service from September 9. The carrier has positioned these Asian services to act not only as point-to-point routes but also as feed into Riyadh for onward connections to Europe, a network model commonly used by Gulf carriers.

Fleet and expansion context

Riyadh Air’s initial operations have relied heavily on the 787 platform. CEO Tony Douglas referenced a "current fleet of six Boeing 787 jets" in his remarks; other scheduling data shows the carrier’s active fleet comprises 787-9 aircraft. Riyadh Air also holds substantial further orders with Boeing and Airbus: 40 additional 787-9s and 20 stretched 787-10s (the 787-10 orders were converted from 787-9s), plus a larger widebody commitment including an additional six Airbus A350-1000s that brought its total A350-1000 commitment to 31 aircraft. The carrier has also ordered 60 Airbus A321neo single-aisles.

• New routes: Islamabad (RUH-ISB) — 7x weekly, starts Aug 14
• New routes: Lahore (RUH-LHE) — 3x weekly, starts Aug 18
• New routes: Bangkok (RUH-BKK) — 4x weekly, starts Sep 2
• New routes: Manila (RUH-MNL) — daily, starts Sep 9
• Primary equipment: Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner on all four routes

Outlook

The airline plans to operate a total of 22 routes by March 2027 and has set an ambitious target of reaching 100 routes by the end of the decade. The quick turnaround between opening reservations and initial operations — with one route set to begin service as soon as next week — underscores Riyadh Air’s aggressive expansion timetable. With a large backlog of Boeing 787 variants and sizeable Airbus commitments, the carrier appears to be scaling both medium- and long-haul capacity to support its planned network growth and connections between Asia and Europe via Riyadh.