Pravin Singh takes charge as Riyadh Air’s global head of cargo

The yet-to-be-operational Riyadh Air (RX), Saudi Arabia’s second flag carrier, has appointed Pravin Singh as the global head of cargo. Based at its headquarters in the capital city of Riyadh, Singh will build, lead and scale cargo operations for Riyadh Air, which was launched by Saudi Crown Prince and Prime Minister Mohammed bin Salman Al Saud in March 2023. Riyadh Air is a Public Investment Fund (PIF) company and the crown prince is also the chairman of PIF.

“Pleased to share that I have now completed my first week in the office as Global Head of Cargo at Riyadh Air. The excitement and enthusiasm around me is clearly infectious and I’ve met with some incredible colleagues who I’m looking forward to collaborating with!” Singh announced in a LinkedIn post on Friday (25 October).

Singh comes with 28 years of experience in aviation, air cargo and forwarding. He began his career with British Airways in Kolkata as the airport management and customer service leader. He went on to take up various senior leadership positions in British Airways and was based in Jeddah, Kuwait, Dubai, Delhi and Hong Kong.

Before being appointed by IAG Cargo in May 2019 as its vice president commercial for the Americas based in Atlanta, Singh was British Airways’ cargo regional commercial manager for Asia Pacific, India and Middle East based in Hong Kong. He was then responsible for leading the cargo business in 50 stations spread across 20 countries.

After leaving IAG Cargo in April 2023, Singh joined Able Freight as its senior vice president for commercial. Able Freight is a well-known forwarder in perishable cargo imported and exported from the US and Mexico to destinations worldwide.

“My need for personal development, learning and achieving remains my primary motivation, so with a tear in my eye and a spring in my step, I head out to a new future outside this fantastic company,” Singh wrote in a LinkedIn post announcing his departure from IAG Cargo.

In a comment to Singh’s April 2023 LinkedIn post, David Shepherd, the CEO of IAG Cargo, wrote, “Pravin, I've told you privately how sorry I am that you're leaving, and I'll say it publically. You've been a star in this business. I respect the bravery that it takes in a relatively new country after such a long time in one organisation to go a different path. Whatever you do you'll be terrific and we will support.”

Singh is considered a growth-oriented commercial leader with vast cross-functional experience. His experience of working in key global air cargo markets like the Americas, Asia Pacific, the Middle East and India and delivering significant success will come in handy as he takes up the responsibility of creating and building cargo business for a brand-new airline. “Skilled in transforming and re-engineering business to deliver profitable growth, macro analysis and exploitation of data alongside creating and executing effective strategy,” Singh describes himself in his LinkedIn profile.

He is passionate about continuous learning and early this year he found time to complete a certification programme from the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University.

Immediately after the launch, Riyadh Air announced an order of up to 72 Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner airplanes in a multi-billion dollar deal. For a new carrier, this order – 39 confirmed aircraft with an option to acquire 33 additional wide-body 787-9 Dreamliner airplanes – was unprecedented and sent a very strong signal of intent for Saudi Arabia to become a global aviation and logistics hub.

The digitally-native airline is planning for its inaugural flight in early 2025 and aiming to connect passengers to over 100 global destinations by 2030. Saudi Arabia's ambitious aviation and tourism plan aims to serve 330 million air passengers by 2030, increasing air cargo capacity to 4.5 million tonnes, and expanding air connectivity to more than 250 destinations.

When the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia launched Vision 2030 in 2016, it was based on three key pillars enunciated so well by its architect the Saudi crown prince. And one of the three pillars of this grand vision is the transformation of Saudi Arabia’s unique strategic location into a global hub connecting three continents, Asia, Europe and Africa, turning Saudi Arabia into a global logistics hub.

Eight years after the launch of Vision 2030 Saudi Arabia has made significant strides in logistics performance, climbing 17 places in The World Bank's Logistics Performance Index. With 40% of the world's GDP within a six-hour flight, Saudi Arabia is well-poised to become a global logistics hub.

“The present moment is ideal for convening this forum, as the global logistics sector is at a pivotal juncture. Current global challenges underscore the need for safeguarding supply chains and maintaining the operational continuity of logistics services, which are fundamental to global trade,” said Saudi Arabia’s Minister of Transport and Logistic Services Saleh Al-Jasser, while inaugurating the first edition of Global Logistics Forum in Riyadh early this month.

Riyadh Air will eventually be operated out of its hub in the new King Salman International Airport which is being built to over a massive 57 square kilometres, with plans for six parallel runways to handle the expected influx of international flights. Once completed it will be the world’s largest airport. The new airport will integrate the existing terminals of King Khalid International Airport, which has been in operation since 1983.

The airport is built to accommodate 100 million passengers annually by 2030 and by 2050 it expects the passenger traffic to grow to 185 million. On the cargo side, the infrastructure is built to handle 2 million tonnes of cargo by 2030 and 3.5 million tonnes by 2050.

The cargo business of Riyadh Air will certainly play a critical role in turning Saudi Arabia into a global trade gateway for the future. Therefore, Singh’s appointment as the global head of cargo for Riyadh Air is very significant.