Saudia eyes large widebody order in 2022

Saudia (SV, Jeddah) is planning to place a large widebody order in 2022 and is in advanced talks with both Airbus and Boeing, Chief Executive Ibrahim Koshy told media during the Dubai Air Show.

“It’s a good size fleet order that will have to be placed. It’s something that will take place. Definitely in 2022,” he told Reuters in an interview.

While he did not say how many aircraft Saudia would order and whether it would be placed with a single manufacturer or split, he did tell The National newspaper that the state-owned airline was considering A350s, B777Xs, and B787s. Talks with the two manufacturers have also covered a potential A350 or B777X freighter order. While Airbus has recently confirmed that it will develop a dedicated freighter version of its largest twinjet, Boeing has yet to do so concerning its newest type.

Koshy clarified that the order would be mainly for fleet growth, although, in the future, Saudia will also seek new aircraft to replace its existing fleet, including narrowbodies. He did not go into details about a timeline for future follow-up orders.

Saudia plans to grow rapidly and increase its annual passenger numbers from 35 million pre-pandemic to 85 million by 2030. Koshy said growth would come mostly from international long-haul markets. While Saudia intends to focus on developing its Jeddah hub, he underlined that three new real estate developments in the west of the country – Neom Bay, Amaala, and the Red Sea Project – would all ensure rapid demand growth for travel in this part of Saudi Arabia.

Saudia’s current in-house fleet comprises 61 narrowbody aircraft (forty-six A320-200s and fifteen A321-200s), 85 widebodies (twelve A330-300s, twenty A330-300Regionals, thirty-five B777-300(ER)s, five B787-10s, and thirteen B787-9s), and four B777-200F freighters, the ch-aviation fleets advanced module shows. It has firm orders for twenty-seven A320-200Ns (due for its low-cost carrier subsidiary flyadeal), twenty A321-200Ns, and fifteen A321-200NX(XLR)s, as well as one more B787-9.