Saudi low-cost carrier flynas has concluded an $8.6 billion purchase deal with Airbus, a major shareholder said on Thursday. Kingdom Holding Co, which owns a 34 percent stake in the airline, said flynas has finalised the "deal with Airbus for the purchase of new aircraft."
The statement gave no details of the number or type of planes that flynas will acquire but a source close to the negotiations told AFP they are 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 percent owned by Prince Alwaleed bin Talal. It is a vast global investor with shares in the Euro Disney theme park, Apple, News Corporation and the US banking giant, Citigroup, among others.