Originally Posted by
kungfu panda
I don't think that this will be anything of what you think.
A critical part of vision 2030 is Saudiisation. We all know that their targets will not be met by then but there will be a revolution inside Saudi Arabia if they're not really trying to achieve it. The Saudi's have high numbers of Pilots going through 4 year aviation degree's and Pilot training in the US. The last I heard was 2019 when they had 6000, that will clearly have grown considerably by now. Saudi Arabia is a very young and well educated country. RIA is for Saudi's over the medium term.
I know that a large percentage of applications for RIA have come from domestic Pilots, any Saudi Pilot living on the East Side of the country wants this job.
I don't believe that there will be commuting or upgrades for expat F/O's. Now I may be wrong but I know this country well from the inside.
I second this and would add that even with a considerable amount of experience gaining a work permit in Saudi, especially as a pilot, requires an expat to also meet educational requirements. If Saudia’s localisation policy is anything to go by, it required expat’s to hold a 4 year degree (preferably post graduate level).