Saudi Arabia’s aviation sector is presently enjoying tremendous growth as the Kingdom makes good on its Vision 2030 objectives to become a more open, competitive, and investor-friendly destination including for aviation, and in turn boost trade and tourism.
Full-service airline start-up Riyadh Air, which is owned by Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund PIF — and is considered the country’s second flag carrier, after SAUDIA — has already shown it means business by tapping celebrated design house PriestmanGoode to develop stunning, custom interiors for its inaugural Boeing 787-9 fleet and selecting world-class suppliers: Safran for business class suites, Recaro for premium economy and economy seats, and Panasonic Avionics for the firm’s modular new Astrova embedded IFE system. Service is expected to launch before year-end.
Fast-growing Saudi low-cost carrier flynas, meanwhile, reportedly plans to float 30% of its share capital in an IPO, after reporting a record 2024 profit. It used the occasion of the Arabian Travel Market in Dubai to announce the selection of Safran seats for its next 60 new A320neo twinjets.
And a recent decision by the country’s General Authority of Civil Aviation (GACA) to officially remove cabotage restrictions on charter flight operations will further help to transform Saudi Arabia into a global aviation hub.
“Since the initial announcement of the cabotage removal in February, GACA has received several applications from international and regional operators expressing interest in entering the Saudi market,” GACA revealed in a statement. “This early momentum reflects growing investor confidence in the Kingdom’s aviation vision and the attractiveness of its evolving general aviation landscape.”
The International Air Transport Association (IATA) has put some numbers around aviation’s current contribution to Saudi Arabia, releasing a new report today that it said “quantifies the substantial benefits that aviation (including aviation-related tourism) generates” in terms of jobs and economic activity in the Kingdom.
Highlights from 2023 data show, said IATA, that aviation supports and facilitates US$90.6 billion of economic activity (total impact including wider supply chain, employee spending, and tourism activities), equal to 8.5% of Gross Domestic Product (GDP), as well as 1.4 million jobs and 713,600 tonnes of air cargo. These figures are only expected to grow as further investments, including for infrastructure and talent development, are made.
In parallel with Saudi aviation’s impressive growth clip, the Saudi space economy is also under transformation, and one of the most visible examples of this metamorphosis is Neo Space Group (NSG), which is also owned by PIF, the Kingdom’s Public Investment Fund. Driven by four strategic business divisions — Satellite Communication; Geospatial; Positioning, Navigation and Timing (PNT); and a Venture Capital unit – the Riyadh-based company happens to be making waves in aviation as an inflight connectivity (IFC) service provider, as part of its SATCOM unit.
NSG’s fully integrated IFC solution, aptly named Skywaves and developed in collaboration with wireless inflight entertainment and e-commerce specialist Display Interactive, is expected to go live on aircraft before the end of the second quarter, NSG chief executive officer Martijn Blanken told Runway Girl Network at the Aircraft Interiors Expo in Hamburg. Ten aircraft had already been fitted as of 9 April.
“The first aircraft will enter into service and then gradually it will ramp up over time. So, we’re very, very close to going live with these aircraft. We have conducted several tests already and we’re happy with what we’re seeing today,” Blanken said. This will serve as NSG’s debut as an aero ISP.
The firm’s IFC solution leverages SES Open Orbits, the fully interoperable Ka-band platform that combines the GEO and MEO networks of SES, and uses Safran Passenger Innovations’ nextgen terminal (inclusive of ThinKom Solutions’ popular Ka2517 VICTS antenna). This is the same hardware selected by Airbus for the Ka-band side of its linefit, supplier-furnished HBCplus IFC program. The kit will also soon be linefit offerable at Boeing under Safran’s Aeroconnect brand.
Together with SES, NSG has already won several airline customers for its multi-orbit IFC solution covering both linefit and retrofit programs, including publicly announced clients Thai Airways International (for A321NX linefits, 777 retrofits and future 787 linefits), Turkish Airlines (for A350 linefits) and Uzbekistan Airways (A321neo linefits). NSG will serve as the aero ISP in each instance.
“With NSG’s multi-orbit satellite coverage, in partnership with SES Open Orbits, passengers will enjoy uninterrupted connectivity for streaming, real-time messaging, and productivity. This initiative aligns with Uzbekistan Airways’ ongoing efforts to enhance the passenger experience, as it looks to vastly expand its network,” said Uzbekistan Airways in a statement.
NSG’s multi-orbit IFC solution will be factory-fit to Uzbekistan Airways’ new A322neo twinjets from 2026. Image: Uzbekistan Airways
When Skywaves goes live, it will showcase the power of SES’s MEO/GEO-supported IFE service which the satellite operator assures can support speeds of up to 300 Mbps. Whilst Low Earth Orbit and multi-orbit LEO/GEO satellite solutions are enjoying their moment in aviation — and SES may ultimately include a LEO component in Open Orbits — it’s not seen as necessary today, SES global head of aviation Andrew Ruszkowski recently told RGN.
MEO/GEO, explained NSG’s Blanken, addresses certain geopolitical considerations and landing rights as well as capacity requirements and specific use cases.
For its part, Airbus is seeing “quite strong interest actually in the MEO/GEO”, Airbus head of connected aircraft Tim Sommer told RGN in reference to the MEO/GEO service provided by SES, a managed service provider on its HBCplus program.
“I think multi-orbit has definite advantages and I feel what SES is doing with the Open Orbits, yes, definitely that’s a very interesting and performing network and customers are seeing that and it’s working extremely well on the ThinKom solution; also that is visible and known. So, yes, I mean it is definitely a combination which makes a lot of sense. And especially, you know, if you look at ThinKom I mean as a kind of a flat panel solution, I mean that is a product obviously which works well if you work in the multi-orbit, I mean you can plug in GEO, but then I mean, if you’re an high latitude, maybe you have a better coverage from a MEO satellite. That’s where this product can actually bring a really great level of performance, I believe.”
Providing high-speed Internet access to aircraft is only part of the broader Skywaves offering.
“We are in the business, being NSG, in helping airlines provide a superior passenger experience, of which fast Internet is a component, but it is not the whole story. That means a proper scalable cloud-based traffic management system is equally important,” Blanken said.
To that end, NSG has partnered with German satellite solutions providers G&S Satcom to implement G&S SatConnect, a cloud-based, real-time monitoring platform that will support NSG’s Network Operations Centre (NOC), ensuring, it assures, “24/7 monitoring and proactive management of its IFC services”.
“You could even go further and say it’s not just Internet connectivity,” Blanken said of NSG’s solution “but you also want to integrate it perhaps with merchant offerings and perhaps sponsoring platforms. The funding model for flag carriers seems to be, certainly for the first and business pass passengers, free of charge. But the vast majority of the aircraft currently flying and which will be flying in the future will not be necessarily a free-of-charge model. If you think of the low-cost carriers, in the different grades in low-cost carriers, they are looking to different models than just providing it free-of-charge. So that all needs to be provided. And we are certainly looking at the market much broader than just high-speed Internet full stop.”
With a well-rounded IFC and indeed E offering, it is perhaps just a matter of time before NSG announces deals with Saudi Arabia’s homegrown airlines. Your author observed, for instance, that Riyadh Air has selected Viasat Ka-band IFC for an initial cluster of 787s, and wondered if there are opportunities.
Blanken demurred, but noted it’s important to be able to “justify your existence in your home market” as well as on the international stage. As one of the newest aero ISPs on the market, with no prior baggage, it is already proving to be a key part of Saudi Arabia’s impressive aviation growth story.
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Featured image credited to NSG
