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UK carrier looks to capitalise on Saudi’s tourism growth

British airline Virgin Atlantic is expanding its services into Saudi Arabia’s Riyadh in a bid to generate revenue from the growing tourism industry between the UK and the Gulf.

From 30 March 2025, Virgin Atlantic – owned by Richard Branson – will begin its first daily passenger service from London Heathrow to King Khalid International Airport in Riyadh, to tap into the growth expected from Saudi’s Vision 2030 strategy, the company confirmed in a statement.

The new service will depart Heathrow at 2:45pm, arriving into Riyadh at 11:35pm, with the return leg leaving the Saudi Arabian capital at 1:25am, landing back into London at 7am.

Last year, annual trade between the UK and Saudi Arabia stood at US$33.5 billion and is forecast to surge to $59 billion by 2030. Travel between the two is expected to expand by 24% between 2019 and 2035.

“Saudi Arabia is [the] world’s 20th largest economy, the largest in the Middle East and has a population of 37 million. The market is expected to have a predominantly Saudi Arabian point of sale, which will see customers visiting the UK,” the statement said.

The airline will operate A330neo on the new route and offer 30 tonnes of cargo capacity on each flight, to cater to export and import requirements of businesses.

In addition to the flights to Riyadh, Virgin Atlantic will resume flights to Accra, Ghana, marking the return of the service after a 12-year hiatus going back to 2013.

Between January and March this year, Saudi Arabia recorded 165,000 visitors from the UK, according to Ahmed Al-Khateeb, Saudi Arabia’s Minister of Tourism.

Tourism agency VisitBritain had also forecast that the UK is set to welcome 240,000 travellers from Saudi Arabia this year, up 9% on 2019. Saudi visitors’ spending in the UK is poised to reach $988 million in 2024, up 20% on 2019.

For more information, visit www.virginatlantic.com

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