Riyadh Air, Saudi Arabia’s new national carrier, has opened ticket sales for three weekly flights between Manchester and the Saudi capital, extending its UK push beyond Heathrow and giving the North of England a direct corridor to the Kingdom for the first time.
The route launches on 23 July 2026 and will be flown by the airline’s new Boeing 787-9 Dreamliners, the same aircraft type the carrier is using to open its London–Riyadh service. Seats went on sale from 7 June via the Riyadh Air app, riyadhair.com and travel trade partners.
Manchester becomes one of the first UK cities outside London to win direct access to Riyadh, a move the airline frames as deepening economic and cultural ties with the North. The carrier points to the region’s large Asian communities, decades of educational collaboration and a sizeable population of Saudi students as the demand drivers behind the route, alongside expanding business links between the two markets.
For Northern business travellers, the appeal is twofold. Riyadh itself offers access to a fast-growing capital and commercial centre, while the city also functions as a connecting hub: passengers from Manchester can route onward to Jeddah, Dubai, Cairo and a series of Asian cities the airline says it will announce shortly. The strategy mirrors the wider Saudi ambition to turn the Kingdom into a global aviation crossroads, a theme explored in our look at Saudi Arabia’s three new airlines.
The Manchester news lands alongside an acceleration elsewhere in the network. Riyadh Air has brought its long-awaited first flight to London forward from 1 July to 10 June 2026, citing faster-than-expected aircraft deliveries; tickets for the earlier London service are on sale now. The carrier’s fleet has grown to three Dreamliners, and it has opened sales across several destinations including Dubai, Cairo, Madrid, Jeddah and Manchester, according to Arab News.
Travellers signing up early are being invited to become “Founding Members” of the airline’s loyalty programme, Sfeer, which carries a Best Offer Guarantee and free Wi-Fi, with rewards earned from the first flight.
The 787-9s are configured in four classes — Business Elite, Business, Premium Economy and Economy. Business Elite and Business share a fully flat-bed 1-2-1 layout with AC power, USB-C and USB-A charging and high-fidelity audio delivered into the headrests. Premium Economy adopts a 2-3-2 layout with privacy headrest wings, additional storage, expandable surfaces and four USB-C points, while Economy offers six-way adjustable headrests and two USB-C points in a 3-3-3 cabin. Every seat across all four classes carries both Bluetooth audio connectivity and a traditional physical jack.
In-flight entertainment runs on Panasonic Avionics’ Astrova system, with more than 500 films and 600 TV series from partners including Shahid, Disney+, HBO Max and Warner Bros., plus 1,000 audio albums and playlists, mobile-first connectivity and wireless listening.
On board, the carrier is leaning into a Saudi-rooted hospitality story: restorative Kayanee in-flight products, bespoke Disney amenity kits for younger travellers, bedding by John Horsfall and a “five senses” wellness journey. Business Elite and Business guests receive Kayanee loungewear, with Premium Economy passengers given a loungewear top. The airline’s premium positioning has drawn early attention across the region’s business press, with Arabian Business tracking the pace of its commercial roll-out.
The Manchester launch also strengthens the airport’s growing long-haul roster, the same hub where carriers including Ryanair have been expanding passenger services,— and gives business travellers in the North a credible new option to the Gulf and beyond from this summer.
