{"id":3719,"date":"2026-07-17T07:22:05","date_gmt":"2026-07-17T11:22:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/qatipi.com\/andyscorner\/?p=3719"},"modified":"2026-07-17T07:22:09","modified_gmt":"2026-07-17T11:22:09","slug":"why-this-new-airline-matters-more-than-you-think-part-1","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/qatipi.com\/andyscorner\/why-this-new-airline-matters-more-than-you-think-part-1\/","title":{"rendered":"Why this new airline matters more than you think-Part 1"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\n

\u201cMy grandfather rode a camel, my father rode a camel, I drive a Mercedes, my son drives a Land Rover, and my grandson is going to drive a Land Rover, but my great-grandson is going to ride a camel\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

-Sheikh Ahmed Zaki Yamani<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n
\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

At first glance, Riyadh Air doesn’t seem to be an impressive airline.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It only has 4 aircraft, one of which is for training, has only one flight, from Riyadh King Khalid Airport to London Heathrow, and only started flying in October 2025, with its flights until a few weeks ago being for training. It appears that this will be but another small airline smooshed between regional powerhouses such as Emirates, Qatar Airways, and Saudia.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, Riyadh Air was created by the Saudi Government in 2023 to cause a major shakeup in the aviation and tourism industry to create one of the largest airlines in the world. It is part of the Saudi government\u2019s plan to connect their country to the world, and help get rid of their overreliance on oil for their economy. They plan to make Riyadh a global city that can stand on its own against giants in Dubai and now, Doha. They want to make the country a famous tourism hub, known for its famed attractions and boundless technological advancements, then what it is known as today, an oil rich country led by a monarchy that severely abuses human rights.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The current Saudi state had its origins in the 1700s, when the Saud family and clan made an alliance with the Wahhabi Clan, where the Saudis would focus on governance affairs in their state while the Wahhabi\u2019s would be focused on all religious matters. This would drastically change the trajectory of the Saudi state, as the Wahhabi\u2019s were Sunni Islamic Radicals, which would not sit well with many people in the Arabian peninsula, who were less radical, or Shia Muslim. But the Saudi\u2019s kept the Wahhabi\u2019s in power because of the alliance being beneficial to them, which did help the Saudis maintain power, but also made them one of the most oppressive regimes in the world, which is not going to be a lot of help to them today.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Eventually, in 1932, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia was proclaimed, but it had a huge problem if it was to survive. There was literally nothing of worth on the whole peninsula. Saudi Arabia is the largest country with no rivers or lakes, and most of it is uninhabitable because of the desert, especially in the south, where a third of the country is the Rub’ al Khali, the largest sand expanse in the world. The biggest boost to the Saudi economy at that point was religious tourism due to controlling the two holy cities of Islam, Mecca and Medina. However, under the Saudi desert, there was immense wealth. During the Industrial Revolution people figured out that when oil is burned, it combusts, which can produce energy. So, during this time, oil began being dug all around the world, and during the 1930\u2019s, lots of oil was being discovered in the Persian Gulf. So, the Saudis began hiring companies to begin digging up oil in their territory, and what they found were some of the largest oil fields in the world, the largest after those in Venezuela. However, the oil in Saudi Arabia was more liquified than those in Venezuela, so it was easier to extract, making Saudi Arabia instantly the world’s primary oil giant. This would make the Saudi state wealthy beyond all imagination, and that would be observed by outside powers around the world.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On February 14, 1945, the dying President Franklin D Roosevelt decided, despite his condition, went on the USS Quincy to meet with the King of Saudi Arabia, King Abdulaziz Ibn Saud in the Suez Canal, as he believed that this meeting would be essential to utmost importance to the United States, especially in the soon coming Cold War against the Soviet Union after the defeat of Germany. This was again, because of the already mentioned oil reserves, and President Roosevelt didn\u2019t want them to fall into the hands of the Soviets, because then they could blackmail the world to do whatever they wanted by stopping the oil from going to countries they didn’t like, or didn\u2019t step in line. On the boat, the two leaders struck a deal. In exchange for the Saudi\u2019s providing oil to the US and its European and Asian allies at a significant discount, the United States would provide military aid to the Saudi Kingdom in times of need. With this deal, the Saudi Monarchy immediately hit the jackpot, as they will immediately earn a ton of money from selling oil to the United States and it\u2019s allies, but also, it will be defended against all external threats by the most powerful country in the world, which immediately made them invincible from all potential threats, especially the Nationalist and Batthast regimes that were starting to gain power, such as in Iraq, Syria, and Egypt.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, the Saudis also wanted to make sure that they maintained power internally also, because their style of running, especially by the Wahhabis, weren\u2019t exactly popular among most Saudis. So, the House of Saud made a deal with the people of Saudi Arabia. Because of the oil, and the immense riches that came with it, the Saudi state realized that the citizens did not need to pay taxes, no healthcare, no insurance, no bills, because the government could pay for it themselves. However, the Saudi people could not criticize the government of Saudi Arabia in any way, or else. This led to the Saudi government becoming increasingly authoritarian, and having some of the worst human rights records in the world.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In 1990, Saddam Hussein, the dictator of Iraq, invaded Kuwait, and it seemed that he might go after the Saudi\u2019s and their oil fields, so, led by the US, 28 nations assembled a 600,000 troop coalition to stop Saddam, and rapidly did during the Gulf War and Operation Desert Storm. This was the peak of the American Saudi relationship. However, it soon started to decline. After the Iraq War in 2003, Iraq became a battleground for Sunni and Shia backed groups, backed by Saudi Arabia and Iran respectively. One of the groups was IS, which repeatedly attacked US troops and caused brutal terrorist attacks before the Saudis stopped funding it. They would later become ISIS, and when the Americans found out who created this, they were mad. Not mad enough that their relationship was over, but something had clearly broken between the two.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

More importantly, the US was focusing away from the Middle East, and more towards fronts in Europe, where the threat of Russia was increasing, especially after the Invasion of Ukraine, and more importantly, in the Indo Pacific, where China is increasing in power and military capability, and seeks to expand out into the sea, where it threatens it\u2019s neighbors EEZs in the South China Sea and Taiwan. The US just didn\u2019t have enough time for the Middle East.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, most worryingly for the Saudi\u2019s, the United States had begun being a net exporter with its own oil and natural gas in 2015, and grew less and less reliant on the Saudi\u2019s, to the point that, today, only 8% of US oil comes from the Middle East, while we are the No.1 Oil and Natural Gas exporter. The Saudis soon realized that if this continued, more and more people in the US would ask \u201cWhy are we in the Middle East?\u201d, and soon, to keep Iran at bay won\u2019t be a good answer anymore. The Saudis realized that something needed to change fast.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, over time, the Saudis realized that they were going to be cooked if they didn\u2019t end their overreliance on oil soon. In 1973, during the OPEC Embargo, the Saudis, along with other nations, temporarily blocked oil supplies to all the nations that supported Israel, and it showed the world that the Saudis were not a trustworthy nation to have their oil reserves with. So, they began finding their own sources of energy, like Nuclear, Solar, and Wind. Meanwhile, America also began re-investing in their oil industry, and, through fracking, soon began exporting oil again, becoming the top oil and natural gas exporter in the world. However, over time, for a variety of reasons, the demand for oil worldwide started going down, and is predicted to be almost zero by the 2100\u2019s. With this, the Saudis realized that their only economic source might vanish in a few decades, and it could lead to potential state collapse. So they realized they had to rapidly do something.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So, the Saudis realized that they needed to create a new economic source of benefit once oil goes away, because, if they don\u2019t, the Saudi state will wither and collapse into irrelevance. But, the Saudis then looked at Dubai and found a solution. The UAE was a lot like Saudi Arabia at the beginning, poor and irrelevant, and its main economic source was pearl diving. However, after oil was discovered, the UAE was swimming in money. However, most of the oil was in Abu Dhabi, so the Sheikh of Dubai, Al Maktoum, decided to rapidly build up his city to make it generate more money, and become a massive tourism and economic hub. In 1999, the Burj Al Arab hotel was built, the then tallest hotel in the world, and also one of the best. Since then, Dubai has built more and more megaprojects, such as the Palm Islands, the Dubai Airport, the Dubai Mall, and the Burj Khalifa, the tallest building in the world. Since then, Dubai has become a hub for tourism, finance, and technology, and is known as a place that always strives to build higher. So, the Saudis looked at that, and realized that that is exactly what they should do, build Dubai 2.0, and make Saudi Arabia the new, primary tourism hub for the Middle East, along with finance and technology.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So, to achieve this, the Saudis made a plan to diversify from oil called Saudi Vision 2030, which is a massive plan by the Saudi government to increase and amplify the Saudi economy and culture. This will be done by investing in massive megaprojects to make Saudi Arabia more of a tourism hotspot, especially around the capital, Riyadh, to make the city more influential, like Dubai, including Qiddayah City, a major planned city, the Mukkab, a giant cube the size of the Empire State Building, and the site for the Saudi Expo 2030. They also include other megaprojects across Saudi Arabia that will promote tourism, but also other things, such as a National Transformation Program, and relaxing some of the harsh Shaira laws, such as allowing women to vote and drive, and bringing back the TV. With this, the Saudis hope to create a climate that can support non-oil growth.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, how was Saudi Arabia supposed to start? Well, what is Dubai most known for? It has the tallest building in the world, the Burk Kalifa. So, the Saudis decided to make a new tallest building in the world, called the Jeddah tower, in Jeddah, a coastal city that is right next to the holy city of Meccah. It is supposed to be 3281 ft tall, about a Kilometer tall, and would supersede the Burj Khalifa by around 500 ft. It started construction in 2013, and made some progress, but stopped in 2017 due to an anti corruption purge, and was abandoned for years. However, in 2023, the Saudi government announced they would restart, and have since made more progress, recently reaching the 100th floor and being around 1300 ft tall so far. At this rate, it will be completed sometime in the early 2030\u2019s. Meanwhile, Saudi Arabia will also build a miniature city at the base of the tower, something that has not yet begun fruition.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, the biggest Saudi megaproject is a massive brand new city in the north of the country called NEOM. It is a massive megaproject with insane megaprojects in it, set to re-define cities and make Saudi Arabia famous for tourism. These megaprojects are very futuristic, including Oxygon, a massive city with one of the largest ports in the world, but has not started, Sindalah, a resort island that is the only project that has finished completion, Magna, a set of extremely futuristic hotels and resorts along the coast of the Red Sea, and Trojena, a SKI RESORT in the desert made of artificial snow that is set to host the 2029 Asian games. The projects have made\u2026some progress but not a lot, and are expected to cost up to $500 Billion, although it probably will increase. However, the city has met criticism due to forced evictions of locals, and use of slave labor. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

But the most famous or infamous part of NEOM is The Line, a 100 mile long city shaped like\u2026well, a line, with two main buildings and a city between them that is supposed to fit 9 million people. In theory, it is supposed to be a city of the future, with extreme efficiency and zero CO_2 emissions, where cars are not needed, as everything will be a 5 minute walk away. Meanwhile, AI would monitor the city and its citizens to improve life. However, when it was announced in 2020, everyone thought it was insane and just a crazy dream. However, in 2022, The Line started construction. It was initially expected to cost at least $1 trillion, but has since increased. Meanwhile, in 2025, the project was severely scaled back, signalling that it might be over. Also, it was met with extreme backlash before and after, as most people said that they didn\u2019t want to live in a city that was straight out a dystopian horror novel, or 1984.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, while all of those wacky projects are under construction, they decided to improve Saudi Arabia\u2019s reputation as a country for fun, building a massive amusement park with the fastest and tallest roller coaster, building Boulevard world, a temporary district in Riyadh that supposed to show all the accomplishments of Saudi Arabia, and, most of all, investing in Youtube. In late 2025, Mr Beast set up Beast Land, a temporary amusement park, in Saudi Arabia, because \u201cIt was to connect with the global audience of Mr. Beast.\u201d Yeah, sure, and it is definitely not for the money. Meanwhile, the Saudis have been investing in other Youtubers to come and promote Saudi Arabia.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, people are starting to see what the Saudi diversification is really about, and it is not just about tourism. Back in late 2025, as part of the Saudi attempt to make Riyadh a tourism hub, they hosted the 2025 Riyadh Comedy festival. They expected it to be a massive success, but most people invited did not join because of the Saudi Human Rights violations, and that the Saudi government prohibited very specific things to be mentioned in the sketch or skit, including:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

-Anything about Saudi Arabia<\/p>\n\n\n\n

-The Saudi Legal System<\/p>\n\n\n\n

-Islam<\/p>\n\n\n\n

-The Saudi Royal Family<\/p>\n\n\n\n

-Slavery<\/p>\n\n\n\n

-Murder of journalists and dissidents<\/p>\n\n\n\n

-Osama Bin Laden and Al Qaeda<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And many more. However, lots of people saw right through that, and condemned the Saudi\u2019s, humiliating the entire Saudi state. Apparently, making Dubai 2.0 was harder than expected, especially when it already had a poor image among the entire world.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So, will the Saudi project succeed? Well, I don’t know, only time will tell. The Saudis face immense challenges, such as all the controversies that face the nation, the unwillingness of most people to accept the Saudi\u2019s, and the ever looming threat from enemies like Iran(Until now). The Saudis believe that they can replicate what the Emirates did, where they just build a major tourism hub from scratch and become known for that, but the Saudis had made one major mistake. The UAE had not a major reputation for anything in the first place, as they were a small country with nothing exceptional. However, once Dubai was rapidly built up, the UAE became known for Dubai, a place that could become a tourist and economic hotspot, that always sought to build higher, to make something grander, a lot like Singapore before it. On the other hand, Saudi Arabia already has a reputation, and a very bad one at best, where crazy sheikhs control the world’s oil supply and abuse human rights all the time, which most people enjoy, such as TV and music, while being run by an extreme fanatical Islamic Theocracy, which people are going to remember. That is not something that one is going to walk away from easily. On top of that, the Iranian airstrikes on Saudi territory damaged its reputation to investors that it was a completely safe country where nothing bad could ever happen. However, the Saudi project might not be completely doomed. Ever since gaining de facto power in 2017, the Saudi Crown Prince Mohhamed Bin Salman has tried to reform the country somewhat, granting more freedoms to women and minorities, relaxing Sharia Law slightly, and bringing back the TV(THANK GOD!). MBS is no shining angel of light, and the Saudi State is still very authoritarian, but he is a reformer. However, MBS has to walk a tightrope. Too little reforms and the country will have the same reputation as before, but too many reforms, and Islamists and the Wahhabis might rise up, such as when Islamists assassinated the reformist King Faisal in 1975, or when terrorists took control of the Great Mosque in Mecca in 1979. Saudi Arabia\u2019s project has a million reasons it could fail. But it still could succeed, but only if the Saudi state goes forward.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, with the creation of Riyadh Air, and the diversification of the Saudi Arabian economy to tourism, this will put the Saudi government in competition with other nations in the Middle East, specifically the United Arab Emirates, which has held a firm monopoly on tourism and technology in the Middle East with Dubai, and has created one of the largest airlines in the world through Emirates, which Riyadh Air seeks to compete with. Meanwhile, the Saudis and Emiratis have both been increasingly competing militarily across the Middle East, in Yemen, Sudan, Somalia, and other locations. It increasingly appears that a new Proxy War will erupt in the Middle East\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Part 2 coming soon\u2026<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u201cMy grandfather rode a camel, my father rode a camel, I drive a Mercedes, my son drives a Land Rover, and my grandson is going to drive a Land Rover, but my great-grandson is going to ride a camel\u201d -Sheikh Ahmed Zaki Yamani At first glance, Riyadh Air doesn’t seem to be an impressive airline. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_seo_schema_type":"","episode_type":"audio","audio_file":"","podmotor_file_id":"","podmotor_episode_id":"","cover_image":"","cover_image_id":"","duration":"","filesize":"","filesize_raw":"","date_recorded":"","explicit":"","block":"","_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[35,9,8],"tags":[],"series":[],"class_list":["post-3719","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-essays","category-geopolitics","category-history"],"episode_featured_image":false,"episode_player_image":"https:\/\/qatipi.com\/andyscorner\/wp-content\/plugins\/seriously-simple-podcasting\/assets\/images\/no-album-art.png","download_link":"","player_link":"","audio_player":false,"episode_data":{"playerMode":"dark","subscribeUrls":{"apple_podcasts":{"key":"apple_podcasts","url":"","label":"Apple Podcasts","class":"apple_podcasts","icon":"apple-podcasts.png"},"google_podcasts":{"key":"google_podcasts","url":"","label":"Google Podcasts","class":"google_podcasts","icon":"google-podcasts.png"},"spotify":{"key":"spotify","url":"","label":"Spotify","class":"spotify","icon":"spotify.png"},"youtube":{"key":"youtube","url":"","label":"YouTube","class":"youtube","icon":"youtube.png"}},"rssFeedUrl":"https:\/\/qatipi.com\/andyscorner\/feed\/podcast\/the-corner-podcast","embedCode":"

Why this new airline matters more than you think-Part 1<\/a><\/blockquote>