Riyadh Air and the Sfeer Frequent Flyer Program: Complete Guide | New Route and Prize Draw

【October 5, 2026 update】 Riyadh Air has opened a new route to Jakarta, Indonesia. Sfeer members who book it get the following benefits:

• Best Offer Guaranteed: Sign in and book directly on the website (riyadhair.com) or in the app for the lowest available fare.
• Sfeer Points: Every booking earns points, and the points never expire.
• Level Points: Every SAR 1 spent earns 1 Level Point, which counts toward Silver, Gold, or Platinum.
• 10% off lounge access: Book the new Jakarta route and get 10% off the Hafawa VIP lounge.

【October 4, 2026 update】 Sign up as a Sfeer member to enter a draw. Lucky winners will receive six Business Class tickets and six Economy Class tickets.

Official promotion page 🔗

• Promotion period: September 24–October 22, 2026, inclusive.
• Only residents of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia may participate. Non-residents are not eligible to win even if they sign up for Sfeer.
• Draw and notification: Within three days after the promotion ends, Riyadh Air will contact winners directly through the contact details attached to their membership accounts. Winners must reply and confirm within 24 hours of receiving the notification.
• Ticket validity: All awarded tickets must be used by October 2027.
• Booking restrictions: Tickets must be requested at least 14 days in advance, and blackout dates apply during some peak periods and holidays.

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Riyadh Air is no longer a “PowerPoint airline.” It began genuine public commercial operations in June 2026 and now has 15 destinations on sale. Its Sfeer frequent flyer program, though, is still being built as it flies: you can earn points and they never expire, but award-flight redemptions and elite-status thresholds have not launched yet.

The airline

Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman announced the airline on March 12, 2023. Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund (PIF) owns it outright. Yasir Al-Rumayyan, the PIF governor, is chairman, while Tony Douglas, formerly Etihad’s CEO, leads the company. Riyadh Air is Saudi Arabia’s second national airline alongside Saudia. Its goal is not to replace Saudia, but to build a new international connecting hub in Riyadh with an Emirates-, Qatar Airways-, and Etihad-style premium full-service model rather than a low-cost model. Its IATA code is RX, its ICAO code is RXI, and its callsign is RIYADH.

The ambition is substantial: by 2030, Riyadh Air aims to serve more than 100 destinations. Its stated targets include contributing US$20 billion to Saudi non-oil GDP and creating more than 200,000 direct and indirect jobs as part of Saudi Vision 2030.

From a “PowerPoint airline” to real operations: a two-stage timeline

Fleet: three large orders, and 182 aircraft is the combined maximum

The airline’s stated long-term plan for 182 aircraft is the combined maximum of its three orders (72 + 50 + 60). 158 aircraft are confirmed.

• As of July 20, 2026, six 787-9s had been delivered. The first two, HZ-RXAA and HZ-RXAB, arrived on June 5, 2026.
• The active 787-9 has four cabins: Business Elite (4 seats) / Business (24) / Premium Economy (39) / Economy (223), for 290 seats in total. ⚠️ Business Elite is a front-row Business Class upgrade product that costs an extra SAR 2,500 to select; it is not a separate First Class cabin.

Based on reports from people who have already flown the airline, both the hard product and service are first-rate.

Route network (15 destinations as of September 2026)

London Heathrow, Jeddah, Dubai, Cairo, Málaga, Madrid, Kuala Lumpur, Mumbai, Dhaka, Islamabad, Lahore, Bangkok, Manila, Manchester, and Milan.

Partners: a cross-alliance strategy

The airline lists 13 airline partners: Saudia, Singapore Airlines, Air China, China Eastern, Delta Air Lines, EgyptAir, Turkish Airlines, Virgin Atlantic, Air France, KLM, Air India, Air Europa, and ANA.

Riyadh Air has explicitly said it will not join one of the three major global alliances. In August 2026, Simple Flying quoted the airline as saying that it had “no immediate plans to join any of the three global alliances.” It is instead pursuing bilateral partnerships across alliances.

Elite status: three named tiers, but no thresholds or benefits yet

Riyadh Air’s membership program will have three tiers, with details due later in 2026:

• Silver Sfeer
• Gold Sfeer
• Platinum Sfeer

At the time of writing, neither qualification thresholds nor benefits have been published. ⚠️ An executive interview in October 2025 mentioned a fourth tier above Platinum, but the current official website lists only three tiers, so follow the official site.

There is one useful rule to watch: Level Points can be shared with family and friends to help them qualify for status. Riyadh Air announced this in its October 8, 2025 press release, describing it as “uniquely allowing shareability of membership benefits including Level Points.” Detailed rules have not been published and the feature has not launched.

Basic member benefits already available

• All Sfeer members receive free inflight Wi-Fi on every Riyadh Air flight.
• Sfeer Priority Assist: dedicated support through live chat and callbacks.
• Best Offer Guaranteed: after signing in, direct bookings through the website or app receive the “best available fares.”

The Sfeer frequent flyer program

Riyadh Air announced Sfeer alongside its first flight on October 8, 2025. It positions the program as a “Lifestyle Membership” and uses Loyalty Juggernaut’s GRAVTY platform.

The name combines the Arabic Safeer (ambassador) with the English word sphere.

Like most loyalty programs, Sfeer has reward points and status-qualifying points:

• Sfeer Points: redeemable reward points. The website says, “Points That Never Expire,” so they never expire.
• Level Points: points used for status qualification. They determine your future membership tier and cannot be redeemed.

How to earn Sfeer Points

• Core rule: Every SAR 1 spent earns 1 Sfeer Point plus 1 Level Point, excluding taxes. The airline has not stated whether fuel surcharges and ancillary purchases such as seat selection and baggage count.
• Lifestyle partners: the membership page lists Hilton, Uber, and muvi Cinemas.
• Founding Member: an early-registration status that “cannot be earned later.” Benefits include priority booking for new routes and six months of Uber One for a limited time. In an August 20, 2026 press release, Riyadh Air said its one-millionth member received one million Sfeer Points, while two other Founding Members were randomly selected to receive 250,000 points each.

How to use points: the biggest unanswered question right now

• As of October 3, 2026, the redemption page still says “Soon, you’ll be able to use your Sfeer Points for flights,” so flight redemptions are not fully open yet. The homepage wording sounds more current, but follow the rewards page’s “soon.”
• What is confirmed: starting at 10,000 Sfeer Points, points can be used for flights and experiences through a “flexible system.”
• What has not been published: an award chart; fixed or dynamic pricing; award prices by cabin; partner-airline redemptions; and fuel-surcharge rules. Any claim that “each Sfeer point is worth X cents” is unsupported at this stage.
• An official illustration in the August 20, 2026 press release says that one million Sfeer Points could unlock more than 120 one-way Economy redemptions. It says a family of five could use them for eight family holidays over four years in Economy, or roughly three Business Class round trips for five travellers. This gives a rough sense of the program’s intended reward-point value range.

What it means for North American points collectors — and what remains unknown

Sfeer is worth watching, but not a program to stockpile in advance:

• The redemption program is not live, so the real value of the points is impossible to judge.
• There are no transfer options from Amex Membership Rewards in Canada or the United States, Chase Ultimate Rewards, Citi, or Capital One.
• Elite qualification, partner redemptions, and many other details remain to be announced.

For now, the practical approach is simple: if you fly Riyadh Air, earn the points along the way. Sfeer Points never expire, which is friendly for long-term holding, but do not plan a trip around them yet.

Three key details are still missing:

1. Elite-status thresholds and benefits
2. An award chart and redemption pricing
3. The detailed rules for sharing Level Points

This blog will keep following Riyadh Air and update this article when official news arrives. The airline says its status program will launch in 2026, while redemptions are still listed as “soon,” so there should be more to watch in the coming months.