KUALA LUMPUR: Saudi Arabia’s new national carrier, Riyadh Air, has plans to scale up its newly launched Kuala Lumpur route to daily flights.
This is driven by robust two-way passenger demand and strong traffic potential across business, tourism and religious travel.
The airline officially launched its inaugural non-stop service connecting Riyadh and KL International Airport (KLIA) on July 30, marking its first gateway into South-East Asia through thrice weekly flights using the Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner aircraft.
Riyadh Air chief commercial officer Vincent Coste expressed confidence in the route’s immediate potential, highlighting that strong travel demand from both sides of the corridor would accelerate flight frequencies.
“Malaysia is a very popular tourism market from the perspective of Saudis, and similarly, Saudi Arabia is a popular market for Malaysians travelling for religious trips, business and tourism,” Coste told reporters at the welcoming reception for Riyadh Air’s inaugural flight that landed at KLIA’s Terminal 1 yesterday.
Addressing how Riyadh Air positions itself against established Gulf giants operating out of KLIA, he underscored the airline’s distinct direct origin-and-destination market.
“We are based in a big country, with a capital population of about 8.5 million people. This is the key differentiator. We have strong point-to-point traffic connecting the capital of the largest Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) economy directly to the rest of the world,” he said.
He added that initial traffic on the Kuala Lumpur route would be predominantly point-to-point, driven by direct travel to Riyadh as well as feeder demand to Jeddah for umrah pilgrims.
Beyond 2027, the airline expects connecting traffic via Riyadh to Europe and Africa to pick up significantly.
To further expand its reach across the region, he said Riyadh Air was open to local airline partnerships.
“We have established partnerships with a number of airlines globally at a local level, and we will look to establish similar arrangements in Malaysia,” Coste said, hinting at potential interline or code-share agreements to feed traffic across Asean.
He said upcoming major regional events were expected to boost immediate demand across all flight sectors, pointing to the Formula 1 event scheduled at Sepang in October as an example of traffic catalysts benefiting from the eight-hour direct route.
The flight from Riyadh landed at 11.50am, with the return flight departing at 4.45pm in order to touch down in Riyadh at 7.45pm (Saudi time).
The ceremony was attended by Saudi Arabian Ambassador to Malaysia Osamah Dakhel R. Al-Ahmadi, Transport Ministry secretary-general Datuk Seri Jana Santhiran Muniayan, Tourism, Arts and Culture Ministry’s deputy secretary-general for tourism Chua Choon Hwa, Malaysian Ambassador to Saudi Arabia Datuk Syed Mohamad Bakri Syed Abdul Rahman, Malaysia Airports managing director Datuk Mohd Izani Ghani and Saudi commercial attache for Asean Mubsher A. Alshehri.
In a statement, Riyadh Air chief executive officer Tony Douglas said the route served as a strategic link to the broader Asean region, supporting Saudi Arabia’s Vision 2030 ambitions while facilitating travel for business, tourism and education.
Mohd Izani welcomed the carrier as the ninth Middle Eastern airline to serve KLIA.
The route was launched in collaboration with Saudi Arabia’s Air Connectivity Programme (ACP), with Riyadh Air aiming to connect guests to over 100 global destinations by 2030.
