Riyadh Air taps IBM to create AI-driven enterprise
Airline to leverage AI to elevate guest & employee experience
#Saudi #aviation - Saudi Arabia’s second national airline Riyadh Air has partnered with global technology provider IBM to implement enterprise-wide AI capabilities ahead of its inaugural flights in late 2025. The agreement will see Riyadh Air leverage IBM's watsonx AI portfolio and consulting solutions to establish an intelligent digital foundation that elevates both guest and employee experiences, positioning itself as the world's first truly digital-native carrier.
SO WHAT? - Riyadh Air’s digital-first approach and ambition to embrace AI across the enterprise will become a global case study for the aviation industry. Rather than retrofitting existing operations with AI capabilities, the new airline has the opportunity to build AI into its core from inception. It therefore has the potential to establish new benchmarks for operational efficiency, personalisation, and customer experience that traditional carriers may struggle to match.
Riyadh Air has partnered with IBM to implement enterprise-wide AI capabilities ahead of its inaugural flights in late 2025.
Owned by Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund (PIF), the airline will integrate IBM's watsonx portfolio as the foundation for its enterprise-wide AI platform to drive mission-critical functions across its operations.
The partnership was announced at the FII PRIORITY Miami 2025 Summit by Riyadh Air Chief Financial Officer Adam Boukadida and IBM Consulting Head Mohamad Ali, emphasising the strategic importance of the collaboration.
IBM will serve as Riyadh Air's lead systems integrator, overseeing the installation and deployment of watsonx while developing AI use cases through IBM Garage methodology to drive automation and digital transformation.
The airline will implement AI-powered Virtual Assistants for customer and employee self-service, using IBM Consulting Advantage, an AI-powered delivery platform designed to boost efficiency and service quality.
Riyadh Air plans to leverage Agentic AI to deploy autonomous bots that enable seamless and personalised system interactions, potentially revolutionising how travellers interact with airline systems.
The digital-native airline aims to connect passengers to over 100 destinations worldwide by 2030, equipped with next-generation digital in-flight entertainment systems and connectivity solutions.
This AI-first approach aligns with Saudi Arabia's Vision 2030 goal to serve 330 million passengers annually by the end of the decade, strengthening the Kingdom's position as a global aviation hub.
ZOOM OUT - The Riyadh Air-IBM partnership exemplifies Saudi Arabia’s vision to build a vibrant digital economy and become a global leader in AI. Although a number of new government-backed Saudi ventures are also building AI into their operations from scratch, as a national airline, Riyadh Air’s digital business will be very high profile. Whilst it is true that Riyadh Air can avoid legacy system constraints, it is also true that it under significant pressure to deliver the world’s most advanced and seamless digital systems. If it succeeds it could become the model on which future airlines are built on.
[Written and edited with the assistance of AI]