Riyadh Air Secures Slots for Heathrow Service

Riyadh Air expects to operate flights to London Heathrow at some point this winter. The upstart airline from Saudi Arabia secured slots to fly daily on the route, acquiring them from British Airways.

In a filing with Airport Coordination Limited, the authority that oversees slot operations for Heathrow, the two carriers shared details of the swap, and provide some interesting nuggets of additional information.

Slots are assigned seasonally, and subject to forfeit if not used 80% of the time. This swap suggests Riyadh Air is confident it will be able to launch service in time for the winter season on 25 October.

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Riyadh Air’s RX401 slot expects arrival in Heathrow at 7:30am. That implies a departure from Riyadh around 3am. The return flight, RX402, is slotted for a 9:30a departure, putting it back into Saudi Arabia around 5:30p local time.

The slots come from a pool of “remedy slots” that British Airways is required to make available to competitors in specific markets, including Riyadh, as part of its acquisition of BMI.

The form also details the number of seats on board, with Riyadh Air’s 787-9 flagged as carrying 288 passengers. This is ten fewer than the 787-9 it borrowed from Saudia to secure its operating certificate, implying that it is the number of seats the carrier will have on its own 787-9s when they enter service. Those aircraft interiors were unveiled as carrying 290 passengers (28J/39W/223Y), however, so there’s a disconnect somewhere in the numbers (Update: The carrier has an ex-Oman Air 789 that matches the seat count; the layout discussion below is still an issue, but less so for these first flights).

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 Assuming the 28 business class seats all fit between the forward two doors (otherwise there’d be 8 “Plus” seats at the bulkhead), the six premium economy rows will be just aft of the main boarding door. Behind them will sit 25 rows of economy class seats. Assuming 14 rows in the rear section of the plane, similar to Saudia or British Airways, that means 17 rows of seats must fit in the middle section.

That’s how many Saudia has today, without a premium economy cabin and with 32″ pitch for economy. There may be some room to shift monuments, lavatories, and galley space around, but Riyadh Air plans 31″ pitch in the back, decidedly not a premium experience. And it seems likely one extra row of economy will end up in the rear section of the plane to make the numbers work.

Finally, the slots form notes the new service will operate from Terminal 4 at Heathrow.

More on Riyadh Air’s launch plans:

• Riyadh Air to launch, boosted by Saudi government investment
• Delta, Riyadh Air launch exclusive strategic partnership
• Panasonic Avionics plans support station for Riyadh Air
• Riyadh Air Taps Viasat for Fast, Free Inflight Wi-Fi
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