Riyadh Air (RXI, Riyadh) clarified that it was expecting to receive its Air Operator's Certificate (AOC) from the Saudi General Authority of Civil Aviation (GACA) "in the coming weeks".

This comes after the company's chief executive, Tony Douglas, told Al Arabiya the start-up already had an AOC.

"So there you have it. Riyadh Air is very real," he said.

The airline's spokesperson clarified in a statement to ch-aviation that Riyadh Air "has worked tirelessly in recent months to work towards the award of our AOC and completed all flying and technical requirements", but had yet to obtain the document.

Riyadh Air aims to debut commercial flights in the third quarter of 2025.

ch-aviation was not able to verify whether the certificate had been issued. Riyadh Air and the regulator did not respond to requests for comment.

The state-owned airline is controlled by the Saudi sovereign wealth fund Public Investment Fund and is a sister carrier to Saudia. It recently pushed back launch plans from the first to the third quarter of this year.

The start-up airline has 99 aircraft on order. It is anticipating a delivery of sixty A321-200Ns and thirty-eight B787-9s. According to the ch-aviation fleets module, Riyadh Air currently has only one B787-9 in its fleet, which has been used for certification flights. It has not flown since February 3 and is currently parked at Riyadh.

Although the carrier had hoped to receive eight B787-9s from its order in 2025, it now expects to receive around four of the Boeing jets.