Purchase $15 Billion Worth of Aircraft for Saudi Low Cost airline Flynas
Chief Executive Bander al-Mohanna said Al Arabiya in an interview released on Monday that Saudi budget carrier flynas is in discussions with both Boeing and its existing supplier Airbus to purchase aircraft worth $13 billion to $15 billion, which would be valued between $13 billion and $15 billion.
Al-Mohanna was quoted as adding that the carrier has upped the number of anticipated new orders to 250 aircraft and that it also wants to boost the number of destinations from 70 to 165 in the future.
Earlier this month, Bloomberg reported that the airline’s expansion plans had been accelerated, which corresponds with Saudi Arabia’s aim to strengthen its aviation business and establish itself as a tourist destination.
Flynas, which is partially controlled by the investment business of Saudi billionaire Prince Alwaleed Bin Talal, began operations as Nas Air in 2007 with a fleet that was entirely comprised of Airbus aircraft.
In 2017, the Riyadh-based bargain airline, which competes with the state-owned Saudi carrier flyadeal, placed an order for 80 A320neo-family aircraft, with the option to purchase an additional 40 aircraft.
At the end of November, the airline’s chief executive stated that the company was in discussions to exercise some or all of the 40 options, and industry sources stated that the company had already reached an agreement under which some of the additional planes would include the long-range A321XLR aircraft model.
According to Airbus statistics, flynas was operating a partly leased fleet of 39 Airbus planes as of the end of February, with a further 76 aircraft yet to be delivered by the manufacturer at the time of writing.