Comac Narrowbodies Win Praise From Riyadh Air, As It Preps For 2025 Launch

SINGAPORE—Riyadh Air expects deliveries of its Boeing 787-9s to begin in the second quarter (Q2) of next year, and is planning for a commercial launch by the end of June 2025.

With 39 orders for the 787 variant, plus options for an additional 33, the Saudi Arabian state-owned start-up carrier has also been considering a large order of narrowbodies. Sources believe a decision favoring the 737 MAX is likely, given the Airbus A320neo family’s constraints for near-term availability.

But it was a third OEM for which Riyadh Air COO Peter Bellew reserved high praise in remarks made at the Singapore Airshow. Calling Comac’s C919 “the world’s best-kept secret aircraft,” he says the company will build a “world-beating aircraft” within the next decade.

“It's great for the industry to have another force out there,” Bellew says, referring to the Shanghai-based OEM. “I wouldn't underestimate Comac for one minute … I think they will be a real force to be reckoned with.”

A total of 109 Comac aircraft are currently in service, according to the Aviation Week Fleet Discovery database, with only two outside of China—in Indonesia. The manufacturer has firm orders for another 1,250 aircraft, Fleet Discovery shows. State-owned Comac announced orders from Tibet Airlines (40 C919s and 10 ARJ21s) and lessor Henan Civil Aviation Development & Investment Group (six ARJ21s) on the first day of the Singapore Airshow, during what was the OEM’s first overseas order signing.

Riyadh Air expects to begin test flying in Q3 2024, as it works toward getting its air operator’s certificate.

“Then we would plan to be operating commercially at the end of the first half of next year,” Bellew says. “So it's all systems go.”

Once deliveries of its 787s begin, Bellew describes the rest of its first batch of 39 as coming “quite quickly” over the next few years. The airline’s goal is to “link up pretty much every major capital that there is, to Riyadh,” he says.