Flyadeal selects A330-900 to tap Saudi Arabia’s long-haul, low-cost market

The Saudi Arabian low-cost carrier, which was launched by the kingdom’s flag carrier Saudia in 2017, is scheduled to take delivery of its first A330-900neo in July 2027 with all 10 arriving within three years, said Flyadeal CEO Steven Greenway.

“This is a real endorsement from the board, the Saudia Group and the country,” Flyadeal CEO Steven Greenway told Arabian Aerospace, speaking in advance of the A330neo order ceremony in Toulouse.

Ibrahim Al-Omar, Director General of Saudia Group, said: “This deal marks a pivotal milestone in our ambitious strategy to modernise and expand our fleet. It builds on last year’s historic deal with Airbus for 105 aircraft. This step aligns with our national strategies under Saudi Vision 2030, which aims to connect 250 destinations and facilitate the travel of over 330 million travellers and 150 million tourists by 2030.”

The exact interior lay-out is being finalised but the A330neos will be configured with 420-440 seats in a two-class cabin with 14-21 seats in a premium economy cabin.

The Jeddah-based airline began services with a domestic network and began branching out into international services in 2021.

Greenway acknowledged that Flyadeal’s move into widebody operations is “pushing the envelope with the LCC model”.

“The difference with the Saudi market is you have a huge amount of labour and pilgrimage traffic coming into the kingdom that a lot of other countries don't enjoy. It is high volume, low yield traffic, and we know that if we get our unit costs right, we can have a piece of that pie.”

Flyadeal has been tapping into this market for the past three years using wet-leased Airbus A330s and Boeing 777s conducting seasonal charter services bringing travellers into Saudi Arabia for Hajj and Umrah pilgrimages.

The unique traffic patterns of the Saudi market plus the airline’s familiarity with widebody operations means Flyadeal has already partly mitigated the risks of going for the A330neo fleet, believed Greenway.

The airline’s fleet studies looked at the options of taking used 777s from parent Saudia and refurbishing them and ordering new 787s from Boeing in addition to the A330neo.

The fleet commonality and earlier availability of the A330neo sealed the deal and the type will operate on a network from Saudi Arabia to Europe, South and Southeast Asia without payload restrictions.

The A330neo is exclusively powered by the latest generation Rolls-Royce Trent 7000 engines and can fly 7,200 nm / 13,300 km non-stop.

At the end of March 2025, the A330 family had won over 1,800 firm orders from more than 130 customers worldwide.

By 2029, Flyadeal will be operating a fleet of 98 aircraft including its new A330neos along with 88 A320neos and A321neos. Its first of 39 A321neos will begin arriving in 2026, said Greenway.