Lucien (recording from Riyadh, mid-apartment move) and Hanna (in London, riding out an unlikely heat wave) open Episode 70 (!) catching up with each other. Between Arsenal's recent win of the Premier League title for the first time in 22 years, and the Seattle Seahawks winning the Super Bowl, it is the year of Championship Hanaa. She lives within earshot of the Emirates Stadium in Islington, her son knows every chant and every stat, and the neighborhood has been in full kit ever since. Hanna is also headed to Miami this summer for a World Cup match, though she'd have preferred the Egypt v. Iran fixture in Seattle — her kids are still in school. And the wins keep on coming: On June 3rd, she'll be co-hosting the 7th edition of the Middle East Sports Investment Forum in London.
Before the main segment, the hosts share a piece of listener feedback that landed: a message on LinkedIn, from a listener who said The Twenty30 "was one of the most valuable sources of information they had when deciding whether to accept a job offer in Riyadh." That's the whole point of the show, and the hosts don't take it lightly.
Then, Lucien does a deep dive on Riyadh Air. Lucien frames it personally first: he's taken six flights in the last six weeks, lives an hour and a half from Dulles in D.C., and values a direct flight more than almost anything else in travel. Saudia currently holds the only nonstop service from Washington and New York into Riyadh, which should make it the obvious choice — except that Saudia's in-flight internet on long-haul routes is essentially non-functional. He's been routing through Abu Dhabi, Doha, and Dubai instead, noting that all three of those hubs have been noticeably quiet during the conflict. Every time he boards, the thought is the same: where is Riyadh Air?
The answer is: closer than it looks. Riyadh Air received its GACA operating approval in February 2025 and operated its first flight — an invite-only Riyadh to London Heathrow service using a wet-leased Oman Air 787-9 — in April 2025. The commercial launch has been held up not by Riyadh Air but by Boeing. Seven fully built Riyadh Air 787-9s are currently sitting at Boeing's Charleston, South Carolina factory awaiting certification, with an eighth still on the final assembly line. The first A321neo delivery is expected in Q4 2026, with the 787 Dreamliners to follow. In January 2026, Riyadh Air locked in Neo Space Group as its WiFi provider for the A321neo fleet — Skywaves connectivity, up to 300 Mbps, free for Sphere loyalty members — layered on top of an existing Viasat contract for the 787 fleet that was signed in April 2025. The internet situation, in other words, is going to be the opposite of Saudia's. Qatar Airways already has Starlink and Lucien describes it as faster than his home connection. That's the bar -- let all airlines seek to best it!
The initial network was leaked via Airport Coordination Limited and shows 15 destinations: Amman, Bangkok, Cairo, Dubai, Islamabad, Jakarta, Jeddah, Kuala Lumpur, Lahore, London Heathrow, Madrid, Manchester, Manila, Mumbai, and Paris. Washington, DC is not on the list :( Three of those routes — Madrid, Manchester, and Jakarta — would be nonstop firsts from Riyadh. Jeddah, Madrid, and Manchester were officially confirmed via Riyadh Air's social media on April 20th. In early May, the airline formally applied to the US Department of Transportation for a foreign air carrier permit with a request for expedited clearance — so DC may not be far behind. On May 19th, public ticket sales opened for the daily Riyadh to London Heathrow service launching July 1st. The aircraft will have four classes: Business Elite (four first-class suites on the first aircraft), Business (24 seats), Premium Economy (39 seats), and Economy.
Hanaa flags premium economy as the sleeper feature. Qatar Airways doesn't offer it. British Airways isn't flying to Saudi at the moment. For families, or for anyone who can't justify business class on a personal trip, it fills a genuine gap. Lucien agrees — he's a last-minute booker and business class prices close to departure get punishing.
On the competitive landscape: Singapore Airlines announced four-times-weekly nonstop service from Singapore to Riyadh on the A350-900, scheduled to start June 2nd before being delayed by the conflict. That announcement read like a signal — Singapore Airlines effectively saying it wasn't going to let Riyadh Air own the premium international corridor into Saudi unchallenged. European carriers largely exited during the hostilities; Lufthansa pulled Lucien off a connecting flight in late January, rerouting him through London and adding a full day to his journey. British Airways still isn't flying to Saudi. The supply contraction has pushed prices up significantly on what routes remain. Riyadh Air stepping into this environment — with new aircraft, working internet, and routes that don't yet exist nonstop from Riyadh — is well-positioned (if it can seize the timing of this moment).
The workforce story is its own headline. Riyadh Air has received two million (two million!) applications across its hiring portals.
The hosts close the segment by zooming out. Airlines are structurally brutal businesses. What gives Riyadh Air a real edge, at least at launch, is route exclusivity and limited competition into Riyadh. As long as pricing is in range, travelers choose the direct. That simple fact, combined with Vision 2030's tourism and modernity goals, makes Riyadh Air something bigger than just an airline. King Khalid International Airport remained one of the most operationally open airports in the region during the conflict. The infrastructure is there. The aircraft are nearly there. Riyadh Air is coming.
The episode wraps with a brief detour into domestic flying in Saudi — the Riyadh to Jeddah corridor, the high proportion of passengers in Ihram performing Umrah year-round, and genuine praise for Saudia's cabin crew and their quietly impressive ability to reshuffle seating at boarding so that women aren't seated next to unrelated men. Seamless, fast, and genuinely underappreciated. The one criticism of Saudia that neither host will let go: the internet!
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