Saudi low-cost carrier Flyadeal has said that it is looking at options for a widebody aircraft implementation into its fleet. Airline Chief says a decision on the aircraft is expecting to be made by year end according to reports.
According to Flight Global it is said that the carrier, which current operates a fleet of Airbus A320 aircraft. Is currently looking at brining in it’s own widebody aircraft.
Currently the airline operates widebodies on wet-lease agreements to help with peak travel during Hajj and Ramadan. Which marks one of the busiest periods of the year for all the Sadia based airlines, as travellers descend on the holy cities of Mecca and Madinah.
Speaking at the UK Aviation Club event in London early in November, Flyadeal chief executive Steven Greenway said: “We have high-volume routes, like Thailand for leisure.” “There will be selective regional [services] where we really need some lift. And it is then really religious and labour traffic that we are focused on,”
Few Options Available
Despite the carriers best intentions, there a few options available for them outside of the A330neo and Boeing’s 787 Dreamliner, with major backlog orders on other options making the idea of such planes unfeasible for the foreseeable future.
The most likely outcome, could be the repurposing of old Saudi Airlines 787’s. This would be a fast and easy option for the carrier as it is part of the Saudia group. Commenting on this he added: ”If we were a standalone player, the way we would approach the market would be very different than being part of the Saudia Group,”
It is likely we will see the airline move for the 787-9’s, with both Riyadh Air and Saudi Airline operating the GEnx-powerd aircraft. This was possibly hinted at by him as he said: “They are already in the Kingdom, there’s experience with the engine and the airframe. So you already now have two operators with the 787s and GE engines, so that is one option,”
Moving to these aircraft would be the best option based on the wide viability for crew training for this type. However, as it does operate a fleet of all Airbus narrowbodies, the A330neo could also be a smart move, with limited training being required for crew to make the jump.
This is thanks to Airbus’ familiar cockpit layout, one of the key marketing aspects of the European Manufactures jets is the lack of need lots of additional training when switching types.
Major Saudia Aviation Growth Continues
The Growth of the Saudia Aviation market seems to be never ending. With Flyadeal already expecting to reach a fleet of 88 A32o Family aircraft in four years time. By which point the airlines will operate and all Neo fleet, which would include the first of their order of 39 A321neos, which was part of the recent order made earlier this year for an additional 51 Airbus narrowbodies. The first of the aircraft is expected to join the airline in the first quarter of 2026.
Looking at the airlines growth, Mr Greenway added: “We have already been a widebody operator, albeit on the wet-lease side. We’ve gone from three to five to seven wet-lease widebodies in the space of three years.”
With this growth does come the restrictions of time frames, he was asked about the possibility of widebody orders in 2027-28 which he felt are “achievable” but did admit “that window will disappear in the next six months anyway”.
The airline is in need of the widebodies on such a short delivery time frame due to the peace at which it is growing. He said “We are going to have quite a large wet-lease operation in two, three years time and I really want to start seeing our fleet start coming in and balancing and supplementing that out.”
Currently widebody production and backlogs are some the biggest around, so perhaps this could mean the only short term option for them will be the reuse of old Saudia Airlines 787’s as it will be the most cost effective option at this time.
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