Air-to-Ground (A2G) Network Performance Optimization in the 5G/6G Era: A Framework for In-Flight Connectivity and UAV Communications Aligned with Saudi Vision 2030

Saudi Arabia ranks among the global leaders in terrestrial 5G deployment, with 97.99 percent population coverage in 2025 (StatRanker, 2025) and a national median 5G download speed of 198.39 Mbps (Ookla, 2025). In the air, the picture is less mature. Air-to-Ground (A2G) connectivity in Saudi airspace remains a young engineering discipline, even though commercial A2G operations have been running on the Riyadh–Jeddah corridor since 2018 under the stc–Nokia–Thales partnership. The recent SCIT Group–Nokia agreement (December 2025) and the SkyFive Arabia–stc commercial rollout extend that footprint across the Middle East and Africa. This paper proposes the Air-to-Ground Performance Optimization Framework (A2G-POF), a structured KPI governance model designed for cloud-connected A2G systems aligned with Saudi Vision 2030. The framework integrates terrestrial 5G, high-altitude platform stations (HAPS), and low-Earth-orbit (LEO) constellations under one unified set of performance contracts. It is anchored in 3GPP Releases 17 to 19 specifications for Non-Terrestrial Networks (NTN), the ITU-R IMT-2030 vision, and Saudi national policy frameworks issued by the Communications, Space and Technology Commission (CST), the General Authority of Civil Aviation (GACA), and the Saudi Data and Artificial Intelligence Authority (SDAIA). The methodology combines literature review (2020 to 2025), policy-content analysis of Saudi aviation and telecom-governance documents, and integration of public market and operator statistics. The Saudi 5G services market is projected to grow from USD 635.4 million in 2024 to USD 4.48 billion by 2030 at a CAGR of 38.4 percent, while the Saudi commercial drones market is expected to grow from USD 297 million in 2024 to USD 3.33 billion by 2033 at a CAGR of 30.83 percent. Architectural analysis indicates that hybrid multi-orbit configurations consistently outperform single-mode deployments across the seven A2G performance domains. The paper concludes that Saudi operators, integrators, and aviation regulators can convert this terrestrial leadership into airborne leadership only when A2G is treated as a governed engineering discipline. A2G-POF gives the Kingdom a practical blueprint for that transition.