WNAM MONITORING: Saudi Arabia’s Saudia Group will buy 105 Airbus planes, the company saiD, hailing it as the biggest aircraft deal in the country’s history.
Saudia airline will receive 54 A321neo aircraft, while budget offshoot flyadeal will acquire 12 A320neo and 39 A321neo planes, it said in a statement.
The deal is valued at $19 billion, according to a separate statement from the Future Aviation Forum, the conference in the Saudi capital Riyadh where the deal was announced.
“This landmark agreement encompasses 105 confirmed aircraft and marks a significant moment not only for the Saudi aviation industry but also for the wider MENA region,” the Saudia statement said.
The purchase, described as “the largest aircraft deal in Saudi aviation history”, marks a further investment by Saudi airlines more than a year after new carrier Riyadh Air was unveiled.
Saudi authorities have also announced plans for a large new airport in the capital Riyadh capable of accommodating 120 million passengers a year.
There will also be a “massive expansion” of the airport in Jeddah, where Saudia is headquartered, said Mohammed Alkhuraisi, vice president of strategy at the Saudi General Authority for Civil Aviation.
“Jeddah is our crown jewel. It’s the busiest airport in Saudi. It had 43 million passengers in 2023, the vast majority are international,” Alkhuraisi told AFP on Monday.
“We believe we can get to 50 million this year in Jeddah with the current infrastructure,” he said, adding that the post-upgrade target is 114 million.
The world’s busiest airport by passenger traffic in 2023 was Hartfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport in the US state of Georgia, with 104 million passengers according to Airports Council International.
Prior to the deal announced Monday, Saudia had a fleet of 144 aircraft while flyadeal had 32.
Saleh Eid, vice president of fleet management and agreements at Saudia, told AFP that deliveries would start in 2026 and continue until 2032.
Saudia, also known as Saudi Arabian Airlines, dates to 1945 when it received its first aircraft, a gift from US president Franklin Roosevelt.
Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman sees aviation as a key component of his “Vision 2030” reform agenda to remake the petroleum-centred economy, aiming to more than triple annual traffic to 330 million passengers by the end of the decade.
Vision 2030 “motivated our decision to secure this significant deal, which will create jobs, increase local content and contribute to the national economy,” Saudia Group director general Ibrahim Al-Omar said in the statement.
Aviation contributed $20 billion to the Saudi economy in 2023, according to a report published Monday by GACA.
“Aviation supports 241,000 jobs, and a further estimated 717,000 jobs in the tourism sector,” the report said.
