When Saudi Arabia unveiled plans in 2023 for a new airline that could take on regional champions Emirates and Qatar Airways, the aviation industry was back in full swing after the pandemic, with packed planes driving fares higher and lifting profits to a record.

What followed for Riyadh Air was a race to build an operation from scratch, from ordering aircraft to designing sleek purple uniforms to training hundreds of pilots and cabin crew. Invariably, not everything went smoothly. Plane deliveries, in particular, got pushed back several times because of certification issues, forcing the airline to delay its launch, now slated for sometime this year.