Saudi Arabian flag carrier, the appropriately-named Saudia, flies from its 2 main hubs in Jeddah and Riyadh to 3 destinations in the United States: Los Angeles, New York City, and Washington D.C. Currently, Jeddah sees the most traffic between the U.S. and the Arab nation, as somewhat paradoxically only the latter 2 see service from Saudi Arabia’s capital of Riyadh. Since I wanted to finally do a flight to RUH, I decided to do a capital-to-capital flight.
Server: Solo
Airline: Saudia
Aircraft: Boeing 777-300ER
Origin: Washington Dulles International Airport, Dulles, Virginia (IAD)
Destination: King Khalid International Airport, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia (RUH)
Flight Number: SV38
Route: KIAD-OERK
Seat: 37A (Economy)
Time En Route: 11 Hours 40 Minutes
Getting our first look at our aircraft at Gate B41 at the tail end of Golden Hour. Saudia operates 5 different configurations of 777-300ER, ranging in capacity from 290 to 492 seats. Since the principal version used on flights to North America is the 3-class 290-seat version, we’re flying on one of the less-packed aircraft today.
Starting our taxi by Dulles’s iconic main terminal. First impressions of our seat are decent, although it isn’t quite as luxuriously appointed as other Gulf carriers.
Getting airborne from Runway 19L into a cloudy North Virginia sky. Saudia’s economy class so far seems to be a big part of why the airline was recognized in 2023 by Skytrax as the “World’s Most Improved Airline”, from the 9-abreast seating to what appears to be a pretty impressive menu.
Climbing to our cruising altitude of 31,000 feet over the outskirts of Baltimore, Maryland
Dinner is served somewhere near Long Island. Tonight, we ordered the ful medames, which was a delicious fava bean-based dish stewed in tomato, garlic, and lemon. This is definitely going to hold us the rest of the way over to Saudi Arabia.
Waking up over the Mediterranean Sea south of Sicily. We’ve still got a few hours left in oir journey, so we’re going to take advantage of the time we have to watch one of the movies on the seatback IFE screen to pass the time.
Descending over Qassim Province in northern Saudi Arabia. If the Arabian desert can be said to have a breadbasket, this place is it. Home to more than 8 million date palms, the region produces around 205 million tons of dates per year, in addition to wheat, grapes, lemons, grapefruits, oranges, mandarin oranges, pomegranates, and a variety of vegetables. While tourism in the area is increasing, Qassim’s economy is still heavily dependent on agriculture.
Early afternoon arrival in Riyadh. Our flight crew expertly brought our aircraft over the fenceline to gently kiss the surface of Runway 15L before reversing thrust and gradually decelerating to taxiing speed.
Taxiing to Terminal 4, where much of Saudia’s long-haul flights in and out of Riyadh operate from. In another move that seems almost paradoxical for a national carrier, it will be moving out of the capital by 2030 to make way for an expanding Riyadh Air and to concentrate on its base at King Abdulaziz International Airport in Jeddah.
Parked at Terminal 4 on a hot January day in Saudi Arabia. While we had heard that Saudia had improved significantly across the board and, while not quite at the level of its Gulf rivals or SkyTeam partner Korean Air, was definitely on the up-and-up, we had to experience it ourselves in economy. It was a pleasure flying with them and we’d definitely recommend it to those traveling to the Middle East and South Asia.