Riyadh Air gets approval to fly to United States

Riyadh Air has secured approval from the US Department of Transportation (DoT) to operate flights between Saudi Arabia and the United States.

The approval comes a week after the carrier, backed by the $1 trillion Saudi Public Investment Fund (PIF), launched its first commercial flight to London.

The permission was granted on Tuesday after the airline applied for a foreign air carrier permit in May.

Allowing Riyadh Air to enter the market is consistent with the public interest, the DoT said in its order.

In its DoT application, Riyadh Air said it plans to fly to more than 100 international destinations by 2030 and has or is planning partnerships with at least 10 international carriers, including Delta Air Lines.

Late last year, Delta Airlines CEO Ed Bastian said his airline would become the first US carrier to fly directly to Saudi Arabia, operating non-stop flights from Atlanta to Riyadh as of October 2026.

Riyadh Air signed a deal with Air India earlier this month covering potential codeshare and interline agreements.

Further reading:

• Riyadh Air takes off but now comes the hard part
• Riyadh Air brings forward debut London flight
• Riyadh Air’s deal with Air India takes a long-term view

Riyadh Air has opened ticket sales for flights to Cairo, Dubai, Jeddah, Madrid and Manchester following the arrival of its first Boeing 787-9 Dreamliners.

Saudi Arabia is targeting 150 million annual visitors by 2030 and has identified aviation as a pillar of its efforts to diversify the economy away from oil.

The PIF predicts that the airline will contribute $20 billion to Saudi non-oil GDP and support more than 200,000 jobs globally.

The airline has received more than 2 million job applications, AGBI reported in May.