Delta Air Lines Inc. on Tuesday signed a partnership arrangement with a Middle Eastern startup that has yet to operate a flight.
Executives from the newly formed Saudi carrier Riyadh Air inked the deal at the Delta headquarters in Atlanta.
Delta said the arrangement would include codesharing and interline agreements with an eye toward a future joint venture.
Hubbing out of the Saudi capital and helmed by the former CEO of Etihad Airlines, Riyadh Air plans to launch its first flight by 2025, the same year Delta will celebrate its 100th year in the skies. Riyadh Air has reportedly ordered 39 Boeing 787-9 Dreamliners with an option to buy 33 more.
Atlanta-based Delta said the agreement includes plans to start a nonstop Delta flight to Riyadh, though it’s yet unclear whether Atlanta might be in the running for that flight.
“This partnership with Riyadh Air will further Delta’s mission of connecting the world and open an array of new choices, benefits and destinations for our customers traveling to and from the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia,” said Delta CEO Ed Bastian in a statement.
Riyadh was recently awarded the 2030 World Expo, and Saudi Arabia is pouring hundreds of billions of dollars into new developments designed to draw tourists from around the world.
While Delta once flew to Dubai from Atlanta, its route map now lacks a Middle East link beyond a Tel Aviv flight, an omission this deal seems designed to remedy. (Delta resumed its New York flights to Tel Aviv in June, but the Atlanta route that had been reinstated months before the Oct. 7 attacks remains paused).
Delta has long had less than amicable relations with existing Gulf carriers like Emirates, Etihad and Qatar Airways, which launched a nonstop flight from Doha to Atlanta, Delta’s home turf, in 2016.
Labor groups took out billboard ads near the Atlanta airport urging a Qatar boycott, and Delta paused its sponsorship of the Fox Theater after it rented out space to Qatar Airways.
Before that, Delta, American and United also launched a concerted push for the U.S. government to review open skies agreements with Middle Eastern countries, alleging their carriers were undermining fair competition by taking billions in government subsidies.
Turkish Airlines started a nonstop flight from Atlanta to Istanbul the same year as Qatar and has been operating it since.
Read Delta’s news release on the Riyadh Air agreement here and a more detailed article on The Points Guy here.
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