The new airline, the third largest Saudi carrier behind Saudia and Riyadh International Airlines (RIA) will be attached to the NEOM project and is expected to take off in late 2024 or early 2025. After Riyadh Air which has just been launched, Saudi Arabia is already starting to communicate about the launch of NEOM Airlines, the new Saudi air transport start-up.

NEOM Airlines is expected to be attached to NEOM Bay International Airport. It is the first of four airports to be built under the NEOM project. It received its first flight on June 31, 2019, from Saudia, which came from Riyadh. The airport's IATA code is "NUM" and it has a 2,630-meter long runway. For the time being, however, it only accommodates the workers and employees working on the NEOM project. 

The NEOM project is being developed as part of the vast economic and tourism investment and development program, dubbed "Vision 2030," aimed at reaching a total of 100 million annual international arrivals by 2030, with $100 billion dedicated to the airport and air transport sector.

"The final route development plan is in the making, but naturally key regional and global gateways are top candidates. We cooperate closely with all NEOM stakeholders and projects to align our 'go to market' strategy. After all, we are the enabler for the destination, so alignment across the NEOM projects is absolutely key,"  Klaus Goersch, CEO NEOM Airlines

NEOM is an under-construction urban project on the Red Sea coast in northwestern Saudi Arabia. While the future linear city is at a very early stage of development, NEOM Bay airport already serves the existing limited urban area. Saudia and flyadeal operate domestic routes out of the airport. Saudia also flies weekly to London Heathrow, while flydubai connects the city with Dubai International. The ch-aviation capacities module shows that the airport sees 14 scheduled weekly departures.

Read the full story at Air&Cosmos International and CH Aviation