Got the Riyadh Air offer from the Cairo assessment: the new airline's offer process, the Saudi visa, the joining date and what differs from the big three
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#1 Cairo, and I wrote in the Riyadh Air assessment thread that the Cairo event was the smallest and most structured I had attended. The offer came on day 33 and the process after is different enough from the Emirates and Qatar threads to write up for the next Cairo batch.
The offer
Not a call. An email on day 33 with a video call scheduled for two days later, in which a recruiter and a member of the cabin crew team explained the offer, the training timeline, the Riyadh context and answered questions for 40 minutes. A new airline explaining itself to a new crew member, which is a different feel from the seven minute golden call. The offer letter followed the video call.
The offer letter
The grade, the basic, the allowances, the housing arrangement in Riyadh (provided, with the rules), the training bond (present, with a period and an amount, read it), the probation, the uniform and grooming obligations, and a section about the airline's launch phase and the flexibility expected of the first cohorts, which the big three's letters do not have.
The Saudi visa
The work visa for Saudi Arabia for a foreign crew member: the company sponsors, the documents are the usual (passport, certificates attested through the Saudi embassy in Cairo, which is its own process, the police clearance, the medical), and the Saudi iqama (residence) is issued on arrival. The attestation through the Saudi embassy took three weeks and an agent. Start it the day of the offer.
The medical
At a Saudi embassy approved clinic in Cairo, the standard aviation medical plus the Saudi visa medical requirements, results in two weeks.
The joining date
A window three months out, confirmed after the visa, with a flight booking that appeared on the portal. The training at the Riyadh academy, as Mariam and Hassan described.
What is different from the big three
The video call instead of the golden call. The launch phase language in the letter. The Saudi visa attestation, which is a step the UAE and Qatar visas do not have in the same form. The Riyadh context: the city as Mariam described it, not Dubai, opening fast, the alcohol rules absolute, the dress code in public more conservative, the Egyptian community large and the Cairo flight short. And the sense, in every communication, that the airline is building and wants to know you are a builder.
Why I chose it
I had the Qatar process running too and it had not decided. I chose the Riyadh Air offer because the video call convinced me the airline wanted me specifically and because Riyadh to Cairo is two hours and the Egyptian community in Riyadh is the largest in the Gulf. The builder question in the assessment was asked honestly and I answered it honestly and I am going to find out whether I was right.
For the Cairo applicants
The Riyadh Air Cairo events are real, the offers come by email and video, the attestation is the slow step, the city is Riyadh. Apply alongside the big three and decide on the builder question. The Egyptian community will be waiting.
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#2 Riyadh Air, and the video call instead of the golden call is the airline's way and Noor has described it exactly. The builder question answered honestly is the thing. Welcome to the airline being built. The Egyptian community in Riyadh is indeed waiting.
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#3 In training in Riyadh, and the attestation through the Saudi embassy being the slow step is true for every foreign crew member in my cohort. Three weeks and an agent. Noor has the Cairo version right.
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#4 Qatar joiner from Casablanca, and the Riyadh Air offer process being a 40 minute video call with questions answered is the thing I would have liked from Qatar's seven minutes. Different airlines, different feel. Noor chose the builder and I chose the joiner. Both of us are going.
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#5 Emirates from Cairo, and the Egyptian community in Riyadh being the largest in the Gulf is true and the Cairo flight at two hours is shorter than mine. Noor's choice has a logic the Egyptian applicants should hear.
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#6 Saudia, Riyadh, and the Riyadh context paragraph is honest: not Dubai, opening fast, the rules absolute, the city changing monthly. The foreign crew who arrive knowing that are the ones who stay. Noor knows it.
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#7 Cairo, reapplying everywhere, and Riyadh Air is now on the list with the builder question as the decision. The attestation step noted. Thank you for writing the Cairo after for a new airline.