Right now, October 26, 2025, marked a milestone for Saudi Arabia’s new nationwide service: Riyadh Air accomplished its inaugural passenger service to London Heathrow on October 26, 2025.
The flight, designated RX401, departed Riyadh King Khalid Worldwide Airport at 3:26 a.m. native time and landed at London Heathrow six hours and 48 minutes later. The plane used was a Boeing 787‑9 Dreamliner (HZ-RXX), nicknamed Jamila (“stunning” in Arabic). This jet has been serving as Riyadh Air’s technical spare and coaching plane since early 2025, leased from Oman Air whereas the airline awaits supply of its personal new fleet.
For this inaugural service, the passenger record was restricted to Riyadh Air staff, employees from the Public Funding Fund (PIF) — the Saudi sovereign wealth fund backing the airline — and invited companions and visitors. The airline has acknowledged that this “insiders‑solely” strategy will proceed for the following few flights because it effective‑tunes operations earlier than opening to most of the people.
The London route is step one in Riyadh Air’s bold plan to attach Riyadh to greater than 100 locations by 2030, according to Saudi Arabia’s Imaginative and prescient 2030 technique. Every day service to Heathrow can be adopted by the launch of flights to Dubai (DXB) within the coming weeks.
This inaugural flight additionally comes after Riyadh Air secured its Air Operator Certificates (AOC) in April 2025, and it represents the airline’s official entry into the worldwide market. The service has main fleet orders in place — together with 72 Boeing 787s, 60 Airbus A321neos, and as much as 50 Airbus A350s — with the primary model‑new plane anticipated to reach earlier than the tip of 2025.
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This entry was posted in All and tagged Heathrow Airport, London, Riyadh Air on October 26, 2025.
