Saudi Arabia’s flyadeal takes first A320neo

flyadeal (F3, Jeddah) took delivery of its first A320-200N, HZ-FAL (msn 9554), following a period of four months in storage at London Stansted, Skyliner-Aviation reported. The Airbus narrowbody departed from Toulouse Blagnac on March 26, 2020, under its temporary registration OE-ILD, but was subsequently stored first in Shannon and then at Stansted. It was finally delivered to Jeddah on August 10 but has yet to operate any revenue flights in Saudi Arabia, Flightradar24 ADS-B data shows. According to the ch-aviation fleets ownership module, the aircraft is leased from Avolon. The airline has yet to publish schedules for the new variant. The low-cost carrier is wholly-owned by Saudia (SV, Jeddah) and currently operates a fleet of eleven A320-200s. In late 2018, it announced its intention to order thirty B737-8s only to drop the plan in July 2019, after the grounding of the B737 MAX. It then secured thirty A320neo from lessors with options for a further 20 transferred from Saudia.