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IBM and Riyadh Air announced a significant milestone in their collaboration, unveiling Riyadh Air as the world’s first AI-native airline. The project, unveiled at IBM Think Riyadh 2025, was designed from the ground up without any legacy patchwork. These AI-driven operations lay the foundation for transforming guest and employee experiences, setting a new benchmark for innovation in the aviation industry.
Riyadh Air x IBM
According to the airline company, it is leveraging IBM Consulting’s deep industry and technical expertise, broad partner ecosystem, and IBM watsonx Orchestrate to operate as an AI-native enterprise from day one. IBM Consulting served as the orchestrator behind this ambitious AI vision, bringing together 59 workstreams and more than 60 partners, including Adobe, Apple, FLYR, and Microsoft. Using IBM Consulting Advantage, its AI-powered delivery platform designed to accelerate value creation, IBM consultants helped provide seamless execution of the airline’s end-to-end technology strategy.
With initial flights underway and its first commercial service expected in early 2026, the three-year collaboration between Riyadh Air and IBM has reached a pivotal moment.
Adam Boukadida, Chief Financial Officer, Riyadh Air, explained, “We had a clear choice—be the last airline built on legacy technology or the first built on the platforms that will define the next decade of aviation. With IBM, we’ve stripped out fifty years of legacy in a single stroke. Riyadh Air isn’t just built for today; it’s built for the future and creating a pathway for many airlines to follow in the years to come.”
Mohamad Ali, Senior Vice President, IBM Consulting, said, “By embedding AI into the very foundation of its operations, Riyadh Air is setting a new blueprint for what it means to build a modern, adaptive enterprise from the ground up. As a company born in the AI era, Riyadh Air is redefining what’s possible in aviation, and it’s been a privilege for IBM to help make that vision a reality.”
Bringing Together Employee and Guest Experiences
Riyadh Air is reimagining how employees work and engage with travellers in the AI era. By integrating generative AI and agentic AI capabilities into its workflows, the airline is creating a seamless environment where people and technology work together to deliver effortless travel.
- Employee Experience: Riyadh Air will introduce a personalised digital workplace powered by AI agents. The platform will provide employees with a single, chat-first entry point to HR, simplifying workflows and accelerating key employee and manager self-service capabilities as Riyadh Air doubles its workforce over the next 12 months.
- Crew Enablement: AI-powered mobile applications will create a connected and integrated experience for both employees and guests. Riyadh Air will utilise IBM WatsonX Orchestrate to develop an AI-based concierge experience for employees that is trustworthy, proactive, contextually aware, and proposes the next best actions for each persona interacting with guests. This will enable cabin and ground crews to deliver tailored service, for example, prompting staff to offer fast-track services to customers running late.
- Customer Care: Digitally driven yet anchored in human values, AI-enabled voice bots and agent assist will help customer care agents deliver attentive, personalized support using contextual data to anticipate traveller needs and enhance the overall travel experience.
Operational Efficiency
Not only that, but Riyadh Air is also using AI to create new revenue opportunities and reinvest in innovation across its operations.
IBM Consulting implemented an enterprise performance management suite to consolidate financial, operational, and commercial data across the organization, automating planning, budgeting, forecasting, and analysis to deliver real-time insights and support data-driven decision-making. By building this integrated foundation, Riyadh Air is enhancing its efficiency, optimizing route profitability, and strengthening overall business performance.
Together, IBM and Riyadh Air have built an AI-native enterprise with the digital strategy, architecture, and operating models necessary for the airline to achieve its ambition of transforming aviation and expanding the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia’s connectivity to more than 100 destinations, serving millions of travelers by 2030.
