As predictable the Paris Air Show is revealing to be the place where many airlines are announcing their aircraft purchase agreements. I wrote about the Air Mauritius A350-900 order and the huge A320 Indigo order in the past hours. In this post I’ll talking about another low cost carrier, Flynas. The Saudi LCC (Low Cost Carrier) has integrated its pre-existing order with Airbus. Here are the details of the agreement.
The Flynas Airbus A320 Order
Saudi’s newest low cost airline, Flynas, already had quite a large order placed with the European aircraft manufacturer. The LCC had previously placed an order for 90 Airbus A320neo, which will enable the airline to aggressively expand its operations in coming years.
The news coming out of the Paris Air Show is that Flynas has further added extra planes on order with Airbus. The airline has ordered an extra 30 planes from the A320neo family. This enhancement brings the total amount of planes ordered to 120 units.
Also included in this firm order for 120 planes are 10 Airbus A321XLR. This is the longest range variant that is capable of operating extremely long sectors compared to other single aisle planes. The plane that many consider will be the game changer for many long haul sectors which don’t have extremely high demand.
Image Airbus.com
Why Such A Big Order From Saudi Arabia?
After standing still, watching other nations in the region become aviation hubs (UAE and Qatar), Saudi Arabia is finally upping its game. Huge investments are being poured into the aviation market, both in the low cost and full service carriers.
Flynas is the biggest and most ambitious attempt made by the Saudis to enter the low cost carrier business. A market that in the region is dominated by Dubai based FlyDubai and Indian Indigo. Also recently some European LCCs such as WizzAir have also entered the market, further increasing the urge for a local Saudi carrier.
Along with Flynas huge investments have been made in other carrier such as the legacy flag carrier Saudia and new flag carrier Riyadh Air. Therefore it isn’t surprising to see this kind of order from Flynas. Also expect other to come in the near future from other Saudi carriers.
