Saudi airline’s R115bn order a boost for Airbus

SAUDI low-cost carrier flynas has concluded an $8.6-billion (R115-billion) purchase deal with Airbus, a major shareholder said yesterday.

Kingdom Holding Co, which owns a 34% stake in the airline, said flynas had finalised the deal with Airbus for the purchase of new aircraft.

The statement gave no details of the number or type of planes flynas would acquire, but a source close to the negotiations said they were from the A320 family of single-aisle aircraft.

Bloomberg News reported on Wednesday that a flynas order for A320 short- to medium-haul jets was imminent.

Citing a person with knowledge of the matter, Bloomberg said the airline had been considering a deal for 60 planes plus an option for 40.

The 10-year-old airline operates both domestic and international routes.

Its chief domestic competitor is state-owned Saudi Arabian Airlines, known as Saudia, which aims to expand its own fleet to 200 aircraft by 2020.

Riyadh-based Kingdom Holding is chaired and 95% owned by Prince Alwaleed bin Talal.

It is a vast global investor with shares in Euro Disney, Apple, News Corporation and US banking giant Citigroup, among others.

Airbus said on Wednesday it had outstripped its own delivery expectations last year, closing the gap with Boeing and beating its US archrival on orders.

Airbus said it had delivered a record 688 commercial aircraft, exceeding its own target, raised in November from 650 to 670.

The figures were buoyed by a last-minute surge last month when it handed over 111 aircraft.

Airbus also booked a total of 731 net orders, beating Boeing but showing a significant drop on the previous year when it logged demand for 1 036 aircraft.

Last week, Boeing confirmed orders of 668 aircraft for last year, down 13% on 2015 when net orders reached 768.