Riyadh Air willing to buy Boeing planes from cancelled Chinese orders, CEO says

By Hadeel Al Sayegh and Manya Saini

DUBAI (Reuters) - Riyadh Air CEO Tony Douglas on Monday said that the Saudi startup carrier would be ready to buy Boeing aircraft destined for Chinese airlines if they are not delivered due to the escalating trade war between the United States and China.

Boeing is looking to resell potentially dozens of planes locked out of China by tariffs after repatriating a third jet to the United States in a delivery standoff that drew new criticism of Beijing from U.S. President Donald Trump.

"What we've done... is made it quite clear to Boeing, should that ever happen, and the keyword there is should, we'll happily take them all," Douglas said in an interview with Reuters on the sidelines of the Arabian Travel Market conference.

Boeing took the rare step of publicly flagging the potential aircraft sale during an analyst call last week, saying that there would be no shortage of buyers in a tight jet market.

Riyadh Air, backed by Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund, has been ordering planes from both Boeing and Airbus ahead of its launch, including 60 narrow-body A321-family jets from Airbus in October and up to 72 Boeing 787 Dreamliners ordered in March 2023.

The airline does not expect delivery delays from either airline to be resolved any time soon.

Douglas said Riyadh Air had not seen any impact on demand for travel to and from the kingdom's capital from global macroeconomic uncertainty, adding that the company plans to announce an order for wide-body jets this summer.

The airline, which is aiming to launch in the fourth quarter, has hired 500 employees and intends to increase its workforce to 1,000 over the next 9 to 12 months, Douglas said.

Thereafter, hiring of pilots and cabin crew will steadily continue as aircraft are delivered.

(Reporting by Hadeel Al Sayegh and Manya Saini in Dubai; Editing by Kirsten Donovan)