Neom Airlines will be Saudi Arabia’s third state-owned airline (after Saudia and the newly formed Riyadh Airlines), set to launch at the end of 2024 or in the first quarter of 2025, with a specific focus on connections to the futuristic Neom Bay urban area.
According to Klaus Goersch, the airline’s CEO in an article on NEOM’s website, the airline will be focused on enabling travel to and from NEOM for tourists, residents, and commercial partners.
“We are there to enable the destination. Our goal is a holistic and interconnected approach, with NEOM Airlines enabling the gross domestic product of NEOM,” says Goersch, a former chief operating officer of British Airways and Air Canada.
“NEOM’s resorts will be going live in early 2024, so we need to service that demand quickly, initially retrofitting existing aircraft with existing technology. But come 2026 onwards, there will be new innovative aircraft – whether it be electric, hydrogen-powered or supersonic – and next-generation interiors coming online from us. We are already in discussions with plane, interior and seat manufacturers,” he says .
In the first instance the airline will fly out of NEOM Bay Airport, which is already open with Saudia flights domestically as well as to London and Dubai, and then from the NEOM International Airport.
“Organically, due to the strategic geographical location and the level of economic activity here, we expect that we will have a global aviation hub on our hands as time goes on – servicing the Middle East, Europe, America, Asia and so on,” he says.
The ambition is that every flight that the airline operates will have some sustainable fuel onboard – originating from mixing facilities at NEOM, says Goersch.
“Sustainability will even stretch into the catering, with foods sourced locally from here and delivered via on-demand dining at a time when you actually feel like eating. We will look at every single component right down to the carpets and single-use plastics. Little things like this will accumulate and add up to more than the sum of their parts,” he says.
