Air India and Riyadh Air Ink a New Codeshare Partnership

Air India and Saudi Arabia’s Riyadh Air signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) on June 4 to build codeshare and interline links connecting their hubs at Delhi, Mumbai, and Riyadh, opening a path to single-ticket journeys across a corridor where more than 2.5 million Indian nationals currently live and work. Subject to regulatory approvals in both countries, the agreement also covers reciprocal loyalty programme benefits, cargo coordination, and joint digital initiatives.

Riyadh Air has operated to London Heathrow since October 26, 2025, using a leased aircraft in a pre-commercial testing phase. Its own Boeing 787-9 Dreamliners take over that route on July 1, turning Riyadh into an active connecting point for Indian passengers heading onward to the United Kingdom and Europe.

Partnership Terms and Scope

Air India, which the Tata Group acquired from the Indian government in 2022, and Riyadh Air, wholly owned by Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund (PIF), have not published specific routes or schedules under the MoU. Both carriers described codeshare and interline arrangements as the primary mechanism: passengers book a single ticket covering flights on each airline, with coordinated baggage handling and connections at each hub.

Per the joint announcement, the areas the two airlines agreed to explore include:

• Interline and codeshare arrangements via Delhi (DEL), Mumbai (BOM), and Riyadh (RUH)
• Reciprocal loyalty programme benefits linking Air India’s Flying Returns and Riyadh Air’s Sfeer programme
• Cargo services on shared routes
• Operational support
• Digital and technology initiatives to improve the joint guest experience

Campbell Wilson, Air India’s chief executive officer and managing director, called the partnership a natural outcome of both countries’ aviation growth. “India and Saudi Arabia are two important growth markets in global aviation today, and the scale and momentum in both countries make this a natural partnership,” Wilson said, adding that the goal was to combine “complementary strengths” across the combined networks.

India’s 2.5 Million Demand Base

Indian nationals form the single largest expatriate community in Saudi Arabia, totalling around 2.5 million people. They generate year-round demand through family visits, annual leave travel, and religious pilgrimages. Leisure travel has grown alongside that baseline as the kingdom opens its entertainment and hospitality sectors. Pilgrimage adds separate peaks: Hajj and Umrah move millions of South Asian travelers annually under dedicated bilateral arrangements.

The India-Gulf aviation corridor is one of the fastest-growing travel markets globally, driven by business, tourism, labour mobility, and diaspora traffic. Travel linked to the energy, technology, and construction sectors provides consistent premium cabin demand in both directions.

• 2.5 million Indian nationals reside in Saudi Arabia, the kingdom’s largest expatriate community
• 25 codeshare partnerships Air India has signed since its 2022 privatization
• 120+ interline agreements giving Air India customers access to more than 1,000 destinations globally
• 72 Boeing 787-9 Dreamliners on order for Riyadh Air’s long-haul fleet

A family with a breadwinner based in Riyadh generates six to eight return tickets a year; construction companies rotating staff between Chennai and the Eastern Province need premium economy seats on a reliable schedule. Neither pattern tracks school holidays or beach seasons.

Riyadh Moves for the Fourth Gulf Seat

The Gulf Hub Playbook

For three decades, three airlines have shaped how the Gulf handles global transit traffic. Emirates, Qatar Airways, and Etihad Airways transformed the region into a global aviation powerhouse by building geographically central hubs, investing heavily in long-haul aircraft, and capturing transit traffic between continents. Qatar Airways operates with roughly 84 percent of its traffic consisting of connecting passengers, positioning Doha as a key global hub. Etihad followed in Abu Dhabi in 2003, a later entrant that expanded through equity stakes in carriers across India, Europe, and Australia.

All three used the same foundations: sovereign wealth backing, large modern fleet orders, geographically central airports, and aggressive codeshare agreements to pull feeder traffic from diaspora-heavy markets. India, with its 1.4 billion population and millions of workers across the Gulf, has been the most consistent feeder source for all three carriers.

Riyadh Air’s Entry

Riyadh Air was established as a wholly-owned PIF carrier aimed at flying to 100 destinations by 2030, with the government stating the carrier “will be a world-class airline, adopting the global best sustainability and safety standards.” Tony Douglas, Etihad Airways’s former chief executive, was appointed Riyadh Air’s CEO in June 2023. The fleet plan spans three aircraft families: 39 Boeing 787-9 Dreamliners for long-haul, 25 Airbus A350-1000s ordered for ultra-long-haul and high-capacity routes, and 60 Airbus A321neos for regional and medium-haul operations. For a carrier that flew its first commercial passengers in October 2025, the combined order signals a decade of build-out, not a cautious regional entry.

Riyadh Air serves as the second national airline alongside the already established Saudia, with Saudia focused on its role as a link to the holy cities of Mecca and Medina via its hub airport in Jeddah, while Riyadh Air is intended to develop the capital into a global transfer airport modeled on Dubai or Doha. The Air India partnership gives Riyadh Air codeshare reach into one of the world’s fastest-growing domestic aviation markets, alongside deals Riyadh Air has already signed with Delta Air Lines, Virgin Atlantic, Turkish Airlines, Singapore Airlines, Air China, China Eastern, and EgyptAir, per industry reporting.

Air India’s Network Foundation

Before the 2022 Tata acquisition, Air India held a codeshare and alliance portfolio thin by the standards of comparable national carriers. Since privatization, the airline has significantly expanded its global alliance network and now maintains 25 codeshare partnerships and more than 120 interline agreements with leading carriers worldwide, providing seamless access to over 1,000 destinations globally. Adding Riyadh Air extends that reach across the Arabian Peninsula and, through Riyadh’s onward connections, toward London and Europe.

In February 2026, Saudia signed a codeshare agreement with Air India, giving Saudia customers access to more than 25 Indian destinations via Mumbai and Delhi, including Ahmedabad, Bengaluru, Kolkata, Kochi, Hyderabad, Chennai, Lucknow, and Jaipur. Saudia operates primarily from Jeddah on religious and regional routes. The Riyadh Air MoU covers the Saudi capital’s long-haul operation, and Air India can hold both relationships without the two codeshares competing for the same city pairs.

The post-privatization build has added 25 codeshares and 120-plus interline agreements in roughly three years while a parallel fleet overhaul replaces aging narrowbody and widebody aircraft. Each new codeshare extends the reachable destination count for Air India customers without Air India adding aircraft or crew to operate the flight.

A London Route Through Riyadh

Riyadh Air has operated daily flights to London Heathrow Terminal 4 since October 26, 2025, using its technical spare aircraft named “Jamila,” and the route will transition exclusively to Dreamliners from July. The incoming Boeing 787-9 Dreamliners for the airline will feature a four-class configuration: Business Elite, Business, Premium Economy, and Economy. Panasonic Avionics’ Astrova inflight entertainment system provides Bluetooth audio and USB-C charging at every seat.

Per Riyadh Air’s Riyadh-to-London Dreamliner schedule on the Public Investment Fund newswire, flight RX401 departs Riyadh at 02:35 and arrives at London Heathrow at 07:30, while the return leg, RX402, departs London Heathrow at 09:35 and arrives in Riyadh at 18:05. An Indian traveler flying Air India to Riyadh could connect to London on a single codeshare booking once the interline arrangement receives regulatory clearance.

India is one of the most important and dynamic aviation markets in the world, and this partnership with Air India marks a defining step in Riyadh Air’s mission to connect Saudi Arabia with key global destinations.

Tony Douglas, Riyadh Air’s chief executive, made that statement alongside the June 4 MoU announcement. Douglas previously ran Etihad Airways before joining Riyadh Air at its founding, bringing direct experience of building a Gulf hub carrier with Indian feeder traffic as a core revenue driver.

Regulatory Approvals Before Liftoff

Neither airline has announced a date for codeshare bookings to go on sale. India’s Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) and Saudi Arabia’s General Authority of Civil Aviation (GACA) each need to approve any interline or codeshare arrangement before the airlines can sell combined itineraries. Riyadh Air has obtained all necessary approvals from GACA to operate scheduled passenger services, which clears the foundational layer on the Saudi side, but codeshare arrangements with foreign carriers require separate regulatory filings in both countries.

Implementing a codeshare after signing an MoU typically takes three to six months, covering route designation, fare code registration, ticketing system integration, and bilateral regulatory clearance in each operating country. Riyadh Air’s existing codeshare relationships with Delta Air Lines, Turkish Airlines, and Singapore Airlines give both airlines’ technical teams a working reference, though each bilateral pair requires its own regulatory pathway.

The Saudia-Air India codeshare, effective February 2026, offers a rough precedent: that agreement was announced in late 2025 and became operational within roughly two months. A similar pace for the Air India-Riyadh Air arrangement would put codeshare bookings for Delhi-Riyadh and Mumbai-Riyadh city pairs on sale by late 2026. Regulatory approvals in India and Saudi Arabia set the timeline; until those clear, the June 4 MoU remains a statement of intent, and neither airline has announced when the first codeshare booking goes on sale.