How Saudi Arabia Is Copying an $8B Mistake to Beat Emirates

Riyadh Air was supposed to be Etihad 2.0, a Saudi startup airline rerunning the $8 billion strategy that bankrupted Air Berlin and Alitalia. Then Saudi Arabia hired the one man who cleaned up that wreckage to run it. Now the ghost airline is flying real jets into Dubai, Mumbai, and London, with 158 firm aircraft on order and a plan to challenge Emirates and Qatar Airways in their own backyard. This is the story of how Tony Douglas turned the Gulf's greatest aviation failure into a playbook, and why Riyadh Air may be the first Gulf mega hub with a real country underneath it. #commercialaviation