Riyadh Air launches flights to LHR, to lease one Boeing 787-9 from AviLease
It remains unclear which of AviLease's 787-9s Riyadh Air will take delivery of.
Riyadh Air and AviLease, two Public Investment Fund (PIF) owned companies, have signed a lease agreement for a single Boeing 787-9 aircraft, which will be delivered to the airline sometime before the end of the year.
On October 27, 2025, Riyadh Air and AviLease, two companies that are owned by Saudi Arabia’s PIF, announced that the airline will lease a single 787-9 from the aircraft lessor, with the aircraft being delivered in Q4 2025.
However, it remains unclear from where AviLease will source the 787-9. Ch-aviation records showed that the lessor owns and manages three 787-9s: one is leased to Aeroméxico, while the other two are currently flying under LATAM Airlines’ colors.
Boeing's order and deliveries filings showed that first, the lessor also has no outstanding orders for the 787-9, and second, that Riyadh Air has a backlog of 39 GE Aerospace GEnx-powered 787-9s. The two LATAM Airlines aircraft, CC-BGS and CC-BGU, are powered by the Rolls-Royce Trent 1000, while the Aeroméxico 787-9, registered as XA-ADL, has two GEnxs mounted on its wings.
None of the leased trio has stopped flying on behalf of their airlines in recent weeks, and have scheduled flights on October 27, as well as October 28, according to Flightradar24. With a delivery date of sometime in Q4 2025, Riyadh Air would have to move quickly to not only reconfigure the aircraft to match its promise of providing “identical” cabins across its widebody fleet but also – and at least – paint it in its livery.
In April, the Saudi Arabian airline unveiled its 787-9 cabins, which will seat up to 28 business (four Business Elite), 39 premium economy, and 223 economy class passengers. “Riyadh Air has taken an industry-leading approach to the quality and comfort levels of its seating, and the new interiors will ensure a consistent product throughout its Boeing 787 fleet, providing reassurance to guests,” it said at the time.
The airline also promised free high-speed WiFi for all of its customers.
According to the carrier, its business class seats are the “bespoke Safran Unity,” while the premium economy and economy class seats are the Recaro PL3530 and Recaro R3, respectively.
However, seat suppliers, including Safran, have struggled with supply chain issues to deliver and/or certify their products in time. Case in point: Lufthansa and its Allegris business class cabins (made by Collins) on its 787-9s, forcing the German airline to take delivery of its first Allegris-equipped 787-9 aircraft with uncertified business class seats.
Similarly, the carrier's first Allegris-equipped Airbus A350-900s arrived without its first class cabin at Munich Airport (MUC) in 2024.
Rytis Beresnevicius
During Safran’s Q3 2025 earnings call, Pascal Bantegnie, the Chief Financial Officer (CFO) of the company, detailed that while the company's cabin business' revenues and original equipment (OE) deliveries were up year-on-year (YoY), “business class seat deliveries, however, faced headwinds from certification, which remains a key challenge in this sector.”
Safran Unity, which the company unveiled in June 2022, was slated to enter service in 2023. According to Runway Girl Network, Japan Airlines was the launch customer of the seat, with its first Airbus A350-1000, registered as JA01WJ, entering commercial service on January 24, 2024.
Whatever the case, Riyadh Air has already begun semi-commercial flights. On October 26, the airline's 787-9, registered as HZ-RXX, which is on lease from Oman Air, flew from Riyadh King Khalid International Airport (RUH) to London Heathrow Airport (LHR) and back. The aircraft is repeating the return journey on October 27.
When it announced the flights on October 8, the carrier said that tickets on these flights would only be available “to select groups and Riyadh Air employees." These departures “are a critical phase in ensuring unparalleled operational readiness ahead of receiving the first aircraft deliveries from Boeing,” and to ensure that it keeps its slots at LHR, which British Airways gave to the airline as part of a remedy package, it added.
Rytis Beresnevicius
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