Riyadh Air expects to take delivery of three more Boeing 787-9s "in the coming weeks" and its first Airbus A321neo before the end of this year, giving the Saudi carrier added capacity as it scales frequencies on its busiest long-haul route.

The airline will increase its Riyadh–London Heathrow service from a daily operation to nine flights per week on 2 November, responding to what chief executive Tony Douglas calls growing traffic on the route. "The additional flights help us meet the growing demand on this important route," Douglas says.

The added Heathrow slots illustrate how fleet growth translates directly into network capacity. Riyadh Air now operates eight aircraft to 14 destinations and aims to have tickets on sale to almost 30 cities by the end of this year — a target that depends on the incoming widebody and narrowbody deliveries arriving on schedule.

The delivery ramp marks a turnaround from the airline's launch phase. Riyadh Air began operations with a leased 787 after delivery delays affected its owned Boeing widebodies. It took delivery of its first two owned 787-9s in June, then added five more within roughly six weeks, reaching seven aircraft by the end of July.

Douglas acknowledged in July that the accelerated intake created operational friction. Taking delivery of one aircraft per month would have been "more orderly," he said, but receiving multiple widebodies at once was "a problem we're glad to have."

The order book behind the ramp is substantial. At the Farnborough air show in July, Riyadh Air firmed orders for 28 more 787s — converting 20 of them to the larger -10 variant — plus six additional A350-1000s. Those commitments lifted its firm widebody orders to 67 787s and 31 A350s. The carrier also holds firm orders for 60 A321neos.

The arrival of the first A321neo before year-end would open a second fleet type for the carrier, broadening its ability to serve thinner regional routes as the widebody fleet concentrates on trunk long-haul corridors such as Heathrow. Three more 787-9s in the coming weeks would take the owned widebody fleet to ten aircraft, roughly tripling the owned count since June.

The pace of the ramp matters commercially. Saudi Arabia is financing multiple new carriers as part of a state-backed aviation expansion, and Riyadh Air's ability to convert a 98-aircraft firm order book into delivered, revenue-generating capacity will determine whether its city-count targets hold. The airline's stated plan to offer tickets to almost 30 cities by year-end implies a substantial number of new route announcements in the coming weeks, contingent on the 787-9s and the first A321neo arriving as now scheduled.