Riyadh Air takes the plunge into the Middle Eastern aviation shark tank

Riyadh Air takes the plunge into the Middle Eastern aviation shark tank

Since the announcement of Riyadh Air on 12 March 2023, the new airline is a hot topic within the travel and aviation industry. The airline will be operating from Riyadh Airport as its hub and aims to serve over 100 destinations around the world by 2030. This announcement prompted us to have a closer look at the already competitive situation in the Middle East and to draw up a comparison between some of the big players in the region. 

The map at the top visualizes the destinations of the flight schedule for June 2023 and highlights destinations served exclusively by one carrier. This makes it easier to identify the strategies the individual airlines pursue.

When studying the map it becomes obvious that Etihad and Saudia seem to be positioned more in the conservative camp, serving the major hubs and regionally dominant airports. With Nagoya (NGO), Etihad claim exclusivity to only one destination. This statement also applies to Saudi Airlines, which have only one exclusive international destination in their portfolio, Lucknow (LKO) in India. This aside, Saudi Airlines focus on their domestic market, and partly on the markets in the neighboring countries (i.e., Sharm el-Sheikh (SSH) in Egypt).

Considering the markets exclusively served by Qatar Airways, the network shows a strong focus on destinations in Southeast Europe, Turkey, the Caucasus, India and Africa. Secondary airports, such as Sarajevo Airport (SJJ)Belgrade Airport (BEG) or Sofia Airport (SOF) are also served, which strongly contributes to that regional densification. These are markets to which Emirates apparently do not claim any market share (which, however, could also be at least partly due to Emirate’s fleet comprising widebodies only). The markets that Emirates serve exclusively are exactly outside the “Qatar Airways corridor”. Not surprisingly, Emirates focus on the bigger airports in the respective countries and regions (i.e., Mexico City (MEX) in Central America, Buenos Aires (EZE) and Rio de Janeiro (GIG) in South America). 

With four major airlines, the Middle East including Saudi Arabia is already perfectly connected to the world. Not only are the major hubs served, but also niche markets. Riyadh Air’s mission is to “provide tourists from around the world the opportunity to visit Saudia Arabia’s cultural and natural attractions” – we are curious to see which strategy will be adopted to achieve this goal.

Europe’s Next Candidates for PLAY Airlines?

Europe’s Next Candidates for PLAY Airlines?

The unique location of its hub Keflavik Airport enables the Icelandic startup PLAY Airlines to connect Europe and North America with its A320 neo fleet. The recent announcements of many new PLAY routes have inspired us to take a closer look at PLAY’s hub schedule – we wanted to discover which European airports are in a geographical position to allow for transatlantic connectivity via Keflavik.

We therefore analysed the bank structure at PLAY’s hub in Keflavik. PLAY Airlines serves New York’s Stewart International Airport and four additional markets on the east coast of North America on a daily basis. During summer, transatlantic flights arrive at KEF between 04.20 AM and 5.00 AM and depart between 02.50 PM and 3.30 PM. The below illustration shows how the time window for a flight rotation between KEF and other European airports has been determined, considering a minimum connecting time of 45 minutes.

Baggage-handling-flow-modelling

In order to connect from and to North America, a rotation must not leave KEF before 05.45 AM and must arrive back no later than 02.05 PM. This time window of eight hours and 20 minutes allows PLAY to reach European airports in a range of approximately 2,500 kilometers, which is the area we have marked in the map as the “high potential zone” (please refer to header image).

Airports in the high potential zone have the advantage that PLAY can establish a rotation between these airports and KEF on the same day. For example, KEF – BER (2,400 km) is currently the longest already served route in the high potential zone. As we can see from the below illustration, the flight schedule gives passengers the opportunity to connect from and to North America both ways.

Nonetheless, PLAY also serves routes outside the high potential zone. For example, KEF – PRG (2,700 km) is also served with a rotation on the same day. However, this rotation does not provide connectivity to the transatlantic destinations, unless travelers combine the trip with a stay in Iceland.

There are even significantly longer PLAY routes, such as KEF – ATH. However, due to the stage length of 4,200 kilometres, the plane arriving in Athens in the afternoon does not head back to KEF before the next day. This flight schedule has the advantage that it again provides transatlantic connectivity. On the other hand, the long ground time at ATH decreases aircraft utilization compared to shorter routes.

Those examples illustrate that airports in a 2,500 km radius from KEF have the highest potential to benefit from PLAY’s North American network.

Of course, geographic location alone does not make for a successful route launch. Airports using BEONTRA’s Route Forecasting solution can assess market size, yield, connectivity and more to determine the potential of a new route and to build an airline business case.

Find out more at www.beontra.com/solutions.

Leidos Subsidiary BEONTRA and RDC Aviation Announce Air Fare Data Integration

Leidos Subsidiary BEONTRA and RDC Aviation Announce Air Fare Data Integration

(Karlsruhe, Germany) February 28, 2023 – BEONTRA, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Leidos, a FORTUNE 500® science and technology leader, and RDC Aviation, today announced a new collaboration to integrate RDC’s air fare data into BEONTRA’s Route Forecasting solution.

“We are excited to collaborate with RDC Aviation,” said Martijn Verhees, Managing Director for BEONTRA. “The integration of RDC’s air fare data enables us to provide consistent pricing information for our customers to help them gain aviation market insights and build solid airline business cases.”

BEONTRA’s Route Forecasting solution provides airport customers with access to traffic data, MIDT-based fares, flight schedules and more to explain market trends and simplify the route forecasting process. RDC supports BEONTRA with low-cost carrier air fares, which BEONTRA blends with further market data. As a result, BEONTRA customers can gain detailed insights into airlines’ route performance as well as the yield structure of origin-destination markets.

“We are delighted that BEONTRA has chosen to integrate our air fares data into its Route Forecasting solution,” said Peter Hind, CEO at RDC Aviation. “This collaboration will allow BEONTRA’s customers to benefit from RDC’s extensive expertise in air fare pricing data.”

For more information about the Route Forecasting solution, or the other solutions available on BEONTRA’s Horizons platform, visit www.beontra.com/solutions.

About BEONTRA

Since 2004, BEONTRA has been developing industry-standard integrated scenario planning and forecasting solutions for the aviation industry. With a flexible architecture, machine learning algorithms, and data intelligence, BEONTRA’s Horizons software platform provides answers to complex planning and forecasting questions. Based in Karlsruhe, Germany, BEONTRA has a global customer base. For more information, visit www.beontra.com.

About Leidos

Leidos is a Fortune 500® technology, engineering, and science solutions and services leader working to solve the world’s toughest challenges in the defense, intelligence, civil, and health markets. The company’s 45,000 employees support vital missions for government and commercial customers. Headquartered in Reston, Virginia, Leidos reported annual revenues of approximately $14.4 billion for the fiscal year ended December 30, 2022. For more information, visit www.Leidos.com.

About RDC Aviation

RDC Aviation provides technology and data services to the air transport industry. The company has a comprehensive set of proprietary datasets which are used to present a unique suite of analytical services via a technology driven approach that includes on-line products, a data distribution platform, APIs and custom datasets. For more information, visit www.rdcaviation.com.

Certain statements in this announcement constitute “forward-looking statements” within the meaning of the rules and regulations of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). These statements are based on management’s current beliefs and expectations and are subject to significant risks and uncertainties. These statements are not guarantees of future results or occurrences. A number of factors could cause our actual results, performance, achievements, or industry results to be different from the results, performance, or achievements expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. These factors include, but are not limited to, the “Risk Factors” set forth in Leidos’ Annual Report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended December 30, 2022, and other such filings that Leidos makes with the SEC from time to time. Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on such forward-looking statements, which speak only as of the date hereof. Leidos does not undertake to update forward-looking statements to reflect the impact of circumstances or events that arise after the date the forward-looking statements were made.

Contact:

Melissa Dueñas
(571) 526-6850
duenasml@leidos.com

Thomas Donheny
(571) 474-4735
dohenyt@leidos.com

Victor Melara
(703) 431-4612
victor.a.melara@leidos.com

Join us for the 25th BEONTRA Summit – Virtual Edition

Join us for the 25th BEONTRA Summit – Virtual Edition

We are happy to announce the 25th BEONTRA Summit! The BEONTRA Summit is an airport community meeting for planning experts and executives and, just like last year, will be held as a virtual event that runs in two individual sessions on October 27 and 28, 2021please save the date and join our event!

To view the agenda and register please click here.

We look forward to virtually meeting you in a few weeks’ time!

 

Meet us at FTE APEX Virtual Expo on 8 and 9 December 2020

Meet us at FTE APEX Virtual Expo on 8 and 9 December 2020

We’re excited to be a Gold Sponsor at FTE Apex Virtual Exhibition on 8 and 9 December 2020.

During the two show days, we will be doing tailored demos of our forecasting and planning solutions, answer individual questions and demonstrate how our software can support you to overcome the current and future challenges. Moreover, we will be publicly launching our new “BEONTRA Horizons” platform – you can expect an exclusive sneak peek!

That said, we also want to focus on the human and social component: stop by for a chat, philosophize about the future of travel, take a break, have a virtual coffee with us and tell us your weirdest experience during this pandemic – let’s reconnect!

Request a Free Demo