Saudi’s flynas receives three Airbus aircraft

Saudi Arabia’s low-cost carrier, flynas, has inducted three aircraft into its fleet as part of a US$10 billion order to purchase 120 aircraft from Airbus.

It includes one widebody Airbus A330 and two new A320 neo, representing the second batch of 19 new aircraft to be delivered this year.

The three planes arrived in Riyadh and Jeddah earlier this month, with the new A320 neo aircraft landing at King Khalid International Airport in Riyadh and the A330 touching down at King Abdulaziz International Airport in Jeddah.

The carrier’s fleet size currently stands at 48 aircraft, up 84 per cent in approximately two years, compared to 26 aircraft in the first quarter of 2021. Over the last 26 months, flynas has added 22 aircraft to its fleet.

“Taking delivery of the three aircraft coincides with the recovery witnessed by the travel and tourism sector, especially with flynas adding 10 new destinations and routes in Asia and Europe as of next June. The delivery also coincides with the approaching Hajj season, in which the company plans to transport the largest possible number of pilgrims and visitors to the Two Holy Mosques,” said Bander Almohanna, CEO and managing director of flynas.

The airline aims to reach 165 domestic and international destinations. The A330 is the fourth widebody aircraft in the flynas fleet, allowing it to grow its medium- to long-haul destination network. Almohanna added that flynas recently launched two destinations to Baghdad and Erbil in Iraq, and also signed an agreement with the Air Connectivity Program to launch five direct international destinations to the capitals of Iraq, Nigeria, Uzbekistan, and Kyrgyzstan, as well as to the second largest Kyrgyz city of Osh, to facilitate the arrival of visitors, pilgrims, and Umrah performers to the kingdom.

All of these initiatives, he noted, were in line with Saudi’s National Civil Aviation Strategy to reach 330 million passengers and increase the number of international destinations linked to the kingdom to more than 250 destinations by 2030. The Board of Directors of flynas agreed to increase the new aircraft orders to 250 aircraft, reportedly making flynas the largest low-cost carrier in the Middle East and North Africa region.

In 2022, the carrier increased the number of passengers it carried by 91 per cent to 8.7 million and flights by 45 per cent to 66,000, as well as its seat capacity by 46 per cent.

This article originally appeared on Business Traveller Middle East