In December 2026, Shura Links will be served by direct flights from five additional European cities, widening access to Saudi Arabia’s first 18-hole island golf course.
Red Sea International Airport has partnered with all-premium airline beOnd on services from London, Paris, Munich, Moscow and Zurich. The routes will follow the return of the airline’s Milan service in October.
The expansion is intended to help establish The Red Sea as a year-round golf destination. Its summer proposition centres on Shura Island’s exposed coastal setting, where the destination reports regular breezes of 9–16 mph.
European flights begin in late 2026
According to beOnd’s route announcement, its planned schedule for Red Sea International Airport is:
- Milan from October 2026, twice weekly
- London from December 2026, three times weekly
- Paris from December 2026, three times weekly
- Moscow from December 2026, three times weekly
- Zurich from December 2026, three times weekly
- Munich from December 2026, twice weekly
The destination says the expanded network will operate more than 30 weekly services, including connections beyond the newly announced routes. Travellers can also reach The Red Sea through regional links from Doha and Dubai.
For European golfers considering the current summer season, the new flights do not provide immediate direct access. Milan returns in October, while the five additional routes begin in December, positioning them to support travel during winter and the 2027 summer season.
beOnd plans to use Airbus A320-family aircraft fitted with all-premium cabins. Every seat converts into a fully lie-flat bed, while the onboard service includes Italian leather seating, dining, personalised service and turndown preparation.
“This marks an exciting new chapter in beOnd’s growth and reinforces our long-term vision of connecting the world’s most exceptional leisure destinations,” beOnd CEO and chairman Tero Taskila said in the airline’s announcement.
The carrier began operating in 2023 and operates a hub at Malé International Airport in the Maldives.
Shura Links uses width to manage the coastal wind
Brian Curley designed the par-72 championship layout, and Golf Saudi manages it. The 140-hectare course sits on Shura Island, the centrepiece of The Red Sea development, with several holes running beside the shoreline or overlooking the marina.
The course measures 7,400 yards from the back tees and can extend beyond 7,700 yards for professional competition. Its resort configuration uses broad landing areas to account for wind and help golfers keep the ball in play, while preferred lines offer shorter approaches or stronger angles into the greens.
Curley inherited a flat, low-lying site with few natural features beyond its position beside the Red Sea. Material dredged during the island’s construction helped raise the ground, while shaped dunes introduced elevation, screened infrastructure and improved drainage.
The resulting layout combines wide fairways with large contoured greens featuring backstops, bowls, feeder slopes and runoffs. Platinum TE paspalum, selected for its tolerance of salt and drought, covers approximately 70 acres of irrigated turf.
Curley also revised the original routing. He changed the ninth from a par-5 into a par-4, which opened up space near the clubhouse for a short-game area and a putting course. The sixth became a short hole that plays towards the sea across sandy ground, while the 12th features an almost split fairway around a sandy intrusion.
The 15th green and 16th tees occupy a small island reached by bridge. The closing hole returns towards the clubhouse designed by Foster + Partners.
A coastal summer proposition
Shura Links’ summer proposition centres on airflow and the island’s coastal setting. The island’s low marine geography exposes the course to a regular Red Sea breeze, which the destination says moderates the heat compared with landlocked Gulf locations.
Summer sea-surface temperatures are reported at about 30°C. Guests can combine an early round with diving, snorkelling, yachting or time on the beach later in the day.
The wind also gives the course much of its strategic character. Its generous width reduces excessive punishment when conditions strengthen, but golfers taking safer lines can face longer approaches or less favourable angles into the green complexes.
Shura Island’s growing resort portfolio
Shura Island is planned to contain 11 luxury resorts alongside 305 residences, a marina and retail facilities. Red Sea Global says the transfer from Red Sea International Airport takes about 25 minutes and includes a 3.3-kilometre over-water bridge.
Four Seasons Resort and Residences Red Sea began welcoming guests on May 20, 2026. Located on the island’s eastern tip, it has 149 accommodations and 31 private residences.
The Red Sea EDITION became the island’s first hotel when it opened in October 2025. The property has 240 rooms, including 53 suites, and a kilometre of private beachfront overlooking the golf course.
SLS The Red Sea followed in early 2026 with 150 accommodations. Its facilities include five dining venues, a spa covering more than 1,146 square metres and the island’s largest pool.
Shura Island is powered by renewable electricity from the destination’s solar farms. The wider project uses an off-grid battery-storage system, while the Shura Links clubhouse is targeting LEED Platinum standards.
The new European schedule will begin with Milan in October, followed by the other five cities in December. Once operating, it will give golfers in those markets a direct route to Red Sea International Airport and a transfer of less than half an hour to Shura Island.
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Simon Bale
Simon Bale is the publisher of Golf Today. A low single-figure handicap golfer, he was previously a major shareholder and course reviewer for Top100GolfCourses.com for over a decade, starting in 2010. Through this role, he developed extensive knowledge of golf course design and architecture while playing more than 300 courses worldwide.