I lived and worked in Saudi. I agree that things have changed a lot but I just don’t see how an airline using local labour (and that’s surely the idea) will in any way be able to compete with the best from the neighbours in the Gulf. The mindset is changing, but the pace is glacial. This part of the world simply does not have a service orientated mindset when it comes to local staff.
As anyone who’s ever had to go to a Saudi shopping mall and be served by a local can attest, customer service in Saudi is - to be polite - patchy. There are rare pleasant interactions but they are rare. The best you can hope for is indifference, at worst outright hostility. I can’t see this changing quickly.
As I said - cheap fares, an overall unpleasant experience and an airline to be endured rather than desired.