Saudi Group’s low-cost carrier, flyadeal, has signed an order for 10 Airbus A330neo aircraft.
The order will cover 10 A330-900 aircraft for flyadeal. Like all A330neo aircraft, they will be powered by Rolls-Royce Trent 7000 engines.
This move marks the first widebody order for the subsidiary and paves the way for new long-haul services to be operated by the airline.
Saudia Group has ordered 105 Airbus aircraft, including 54 A321neo aircraft for flyadeal in May 2024. Currently, flyadeal operates a fleet of 37 A320 Family aircraft and Saudia a fleet of 93 A320 Family and A330 aircraft.
The agreement was announced at a signing ceremony held at Airbus’ facilities in Toulouse in the presence of His Excellency Engr. Ibrahim Al-Omar, Director General of Saudia Group, Christian Scherer, CEO Commercial Aircraft at Airbus, Saleh Eid, Vice President of Fleet Management and Agreements at Saudia Group and Benoît de Saint-Exupéry, EVP Sales Commercial Aircraft at Airbus.
In Quotes
H.E. Engr. Ibrahim Al-Omar, Director General of Saudia Group, stated:
“This deal marks a pivotal milestone in our ambitious strategy to modernise and expand our fleet. It builds on last year’s historic deal with Airbus for 105 aircraft. This step aligns with our national strategies under Saudi Vision 2030, which aims to connect 250 destinations and facilitate the travel of over 330 million travelers and 150 million tourists by 2030”.
Benoît de Saint-Exupéry, EVP Sales Commercial Aircraft at Airbus added:
“Saudia Group’s A330neo order for flyadeal marks a key step in advancing the Kingdom’s aviation ambition to unlock long-haul markets and attract new customers. The A330neo’s proven versatility, new generation efficiency, and excellent passenger experience will perfectly support Saudia Group’s strategic growth and solidify their position as a global aviation leader. We look forward to seeing the versatile champion fly in flyadeal colours.”
This could open up a lot of routes
The Airbus A330neo is a medium to long-range aircraft, with the A330-900 being capable of flying 7,200 nm / 13,300 km non-stop, allowing a lot of new markets to open up (be it in terms of payload or range). That opens up a lot of Europe as well as Asia to the airline.
With the airline gaining experience with hired Airbus A330-200 and A330-300, there should be an interesting business plan forming on where to deploy these aircraft, and how they want to configure them.
Welcome to Economy Class and Beyond. Your no-nonsense guide to network news, honest reviews, in-depth coverage, unique research, as well as the humour and madness I only know how to deliver.
Our Social Media pool has expanded. You can find us across most networks as @economybeyond on BlueSky, Threads, Mastodon and Instagram!
Also, remember that we are part of the BoardingArea community, bringing you the latest frequent flyer news from around the world.
Leave a Reply