Flydubai Launches Flights to Saudi’s The Red Sea – $850 Round Trip

Flydubai has announced twice-weekly flights from Dubai to The Red Sea – the luxury archipelago project Saudi Arabia is building along the coast. The route is due to start on April 18 and marks the first international flight to The Red Sea project.

It will operate Thursdays and Sundays, landing in the brand-new Red Sea International airport. Guests will need to take a yacht, seaplane or car to The Red Sea site – which now has two hotels up and running.

Tickets are pricey: A round-trip ticket from April 18 to 21 starts at $866 for a three-hour flight in economy. A flight from Dubai to Riyadh on the same dates costs $433. Dubai-Jeddah costs just $360.

With Dubai serving as a major travel hub, The Red Sea expects the route to help push international visits to the burgeoning destination.

The Red Sea as a Global Destination

Red Sea Global CEO John Pagano said: “This first international flight is a further step in making Saudi Arabia one of the top tourism destinations globally. We are looking forward to truly opening up to the world and welcoming visitors from the UAE, wider Middle East region and beyond.

By the end of the decade, The Red Sea wants to bring in a million guests per year, which it says will be the limit as part of an effort to protect the environment and nature.

The plan is to eventually have 50 hotels and open 16 by 2025. Most will be operated by international brands. It is primarily a luxury destination, with a Six Senses and St. Regis already open – top-of-the-tree brands from IHG and Marriott respectively.

The exact budget of The Red Sea isn’t known, but the developers spent $5 billion in total by 2023, and said they’d spend another $15 billion in 2024.

A third hotel – Numjuma, A Ritz-Carlton Reserve – will open in May, likely to become the most expensive resort in the Middle East.