• The new national airline from Saudi Arabia chose Lufthansa Systems as a partner to mutually drive innovation in digitalization and sustainability.
• Riyadh Air opted for a cloud-based integrated operational suite from Lufthansa Systems.
• The airline takes another significant step towards its maiden flight in 2025.

Lufthansa Systems and Riyadh Air, a new national airline in Saudi Arabia, have signed a contract to implement an integrated operational suite from Lufthansa Systems including the solutions Lido Flight 4D, NetLine/Ops ++, NetLine/Crew and NetLine/HubControl.

The operational suite runs in Lufthansa Systems’ Global Aviation Cloud with the highest level of reliability. Lido Flight 4D’s advanced technology computes the most efficient routes resulting in substantial savings for the airline while the next-generation operation control system NetLine/Ops ++ helps Riyadh Air to optimize the daily utilization of their flights. NetLine/HubControl allows a fully digitized turnaround and an optimized passenger connection management at the hub. Furthermore, Riyadh Air will benefit from the new web-based pairing application in NetLine/Crew.

Peter Bellew, COO at Riyadh Air said:

At Riyadh Air, it is a key goal to achieve our ambitious sustainability goals and the unique capabilities of Lufthansa Systems’ solutions will help us to maximize fuel and carbon savings using the integrated Lido and NetLine systems. The design can simultaneously drive the most effective and least carbon intense routing with the lowest cost fuel usage. Our aim is to show the wider industry how each member of the Riyadh Air family can digitally track their own carbon footprint while reducing costs. The Lufthansa Systems cloud operations suite will be a key to unlocking digital leadership in aviation sustainability.

And he added:

As a digitally native airline, we require effective technological solutions that allow us to run an efficient and sustainable business. This agreement with Lufthansa Systems clearly demonstrates our continued progress towards our first flight in 2025 and is a significant building block in our operational readiness.

With Lufthansa Systems the new airline has selected a leading provider of airline IT that combines in-depth aviation know-how with IT expertise in a unique way. Lufthansa Systems has been developing standard-setting solutions for more than 25 years that have been well-proven and are constantly being optimized.

Riyadh Air is in a strong position by starting its operations with state-of-the-art cloud-based airline IT. As a new airline, Riyadh Air does not have to transition from legacy systems and can immediately start with fully digitized solutions.

We are excited to support Riyadh Air during their ambitious growth in the next years. In partnering closely with Riyadh Air, we will continue to optimize our integrated operational suite and additionally strengthen our position in the Middle East,

added Thomas Wittmann, CEO at Lufthansa Systems.

Background information on the integrated operational suite -  

Riyadh Air is one of the first clients to acquire an integrated operational suite from Lufthansa Systems running in a cloud environment. These state-of-the-art solutions introduce new smart features that Riyadh Air will benefit from:

NetLine/HubControl will provide Riyadh Air with a fully digitized aircraft turnaround as it bridges the gap between airport and airline ground operations as well as operations control. It supports aircraft operations in making real-time decisions and raising situational awareness. A newly optimized passenger connection management will provide Riyadh Air’s operations by giving a precise overview of all flight connections at their hub. It will allow Riyadh Air to prioritize flight connections and to issue measures to recover otherwise missed connections.

NetLine/Ops ++ is the next-generation operation control system from Lufthansa Systems that will allow Riyadh Air to optimize the daily utilization of their flights, increase user productivity and improve airline management when there are deviations from their regular schedule. By collecting and evaluating a wide range of data such as critical weather conditions or technical aircraft limitations, NetLine/Ops ++ will alert Riyadh Air about potentially critical situations so they can quickly initiate measures to prevent and resolve disruptions.

With Lido Flight 4D, the highly effective and interactive flight planning tool from Lufthansa Systems, Riyadh Air’s dispatchers will be able to optimize flight routes, considering current flight-related data such as fuel consumption, costs, and flying time. This way the dispatch can be fully automated. Lido Flight 4D allows for individual optimization of flight phases and offers a range of automation options, from fully manual to fully automatic. The solution is equipped with advanced features such as real-time data updates, weather data integration, and fuel price updates, providing accurate and up-to-date flight plans. This will help Riyadh Air achieve maximum operational efficiency, safety, and stability in a highly dynamic Air Traffic Management environment.

As NetLine/Crew covers crew management business processes, it will assist Riyadh Air’s crew management team with 24/7 operations support and industry expertise. NetLine/Crew comprises system components for the various crew management domains. This includes the communication and information exchange with flying personnel with dedicated applications for crew members. The new web-based pairing application will assist Riyadh Air in planning its crew pairings, taking tariff and legal restrictions into account, while increasing the efficiency of the rosters.