Saudi Arabia’s state-owned budget carrier flyadeal expects to make a decision by mid-year to choose between placing a 50 aircraft order for Boeing 737 Max or Airbus A320 Neo, its chief commercial officer said on Sunday.
The airline, which launched last year, is in early talks with both manufacturers and is "several months away" from making a decision between the two models, Sudeep Ghai, told The National. It will consider a bridge order of leased planes if the delivery backlog is too long.
“A decision is targeted for the middle of the year,” Mr Ghai said. “The challenge for us will be that the delivery pipeline is fairly congested at the moment so we probably have to go to the market and get some interim leased aircraft."
The airline, the low-cost subsidiary of Saudi Arabian Airlines, currently operates a fleet of six leased Airbus A320s and will have eight planes by summer. It launched domestic flights in September and plans to serve regional destinations in the second-half of the year.
Flyadeal competes with Riydah-based budget carrier Flynas, which began operating in 2007 and is partly owned by Kingdom Holding, the investment vehicle of Saudi Prince Alwaleed bin Talal. Regionally, flyadeal will compete with the Sharjah-based low-cost carrier Air Arabia, flydubai and Kuwait’s Jazeera Airways.
The order of 50 narrow-body aircraft would cover the airline’s fleet requirements for the next five years, for both domestic and regional routes, Mr Ghai said.
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Read more:
Exclusive: Saudi Arabia’s flyadeal to seek bids on 50-aircraft order within month
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The continuing problems that Airbus has faced with its Neo engines has not deterred the airline and flyadeal will not exclude the European manufacturer from the race with its US rival for that order.
“We’re aware of it and obviously paying attention to it, but it hasn’t fundamentally transformed our thinking at this point in time,” he said.
If the airline faces a long delivery backlog with its chosen manufacturer, it may lease aircraft of the same type to bridge the gap between the order and delivery time.
“Under the assumption that we make a decision around the middle of this year, I think we’d be looking to lease either back-end of this year or first-half of next year,” he said.
Flyadeal would not reveal the number of leased aircraft but they would be “as few as possible” and declined to reveal which lessors it was in conversation with. It has leased its current fleet from Dubai Aerospace Enterprise, which is majority owned by the Investment Corporation of Dubai, the emirate's sovereign wealth fund.
The airline plans to open two new domestic routes and aims to be profitable within the next five years, Mr Ghai said.
Jigra
Starring: Alia Bhatt, Vedang Raina, Manoj Pahwa, Harsh Singh
About Tenderd
Started: May 2018
Founder: Arjun Mohan
Based: Dubai
Size: 23 employees
Funding: Raised $5.8m in a seed fund round in December 2018. Backers include Y Combinator, Beco Capital, Venturesouq, Paul Graham, Peter Thiel, Paul Buchheit, Justin Mateen, Matt Mickiewicz, SOMA, Dynamo and Global Founders Capital
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Engine: 2-litre or 3-litre 4Motion all-wheel-drive Power: 250Nm (2-litre); 340 (3-litre) Torque: 450Nm Transmission: 8-speed automatic Starting price: From Dh212,000 On sale: Now
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Engine: 1.5-litre turbo
Power: 181hp
Torque: 230Nm
Transmission: 6-speed automatic
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Tightening the screw on rogue recruiters
The UAE overhauled the procedure to recruit housemaids and domestic workers with a law in 2017 to protect low-income labour from being exploited.
Only recruitment companies authorised by the government are permitted as part of Tadbeer, a network of labour ministry-regulated centres.
A contract must be drawn up for domestic workers, the wages and job offer clearly stating the nature of work.
The contract stating the wages, work entailed and accommodation must be sent to the employee in their home country before they depart for the UAE.
The contract will be signed by the employer and employee when the domestic worker arrives in the UAE.
Only recruitment agencies registered with the ministry can undertake recruitment and employment applications for domestic workers.
Penalties for illegal recruitment in the UAE include fines of up to Dh100,000 and imprisonment
But agents not authorised by the government sidestep the law by illegally getting women into the country on visit visas.
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FIXTURES
Thu Mar 15 – West Indies v Afghanistan, UAE v Scotland
Fri Mar 16 – Ireland v Zimbabwe
Sun Mar 18 – Ireland v Scotland
Mon Mar 19 – West Indies v Zimbabwe
Tue Mar 20 – UAE v Afghanistan
Wed Mar 21 – West Indies v Scotland
Thu Mar 22 – UAE v Zimbabwe
Fri Mar 23 – Ireland v Afghanistan
The top two teams qualify for the World Cup
Classification matches
The top-placed side out of Papua New Guinea, Hong Kong or Nepal will be granted one-day international status. UAE and Scotland have already won ODI status, having qualified for the Super Six.
Thu Mar 15 – Netherlands v Hong Kong, PNG v Nepal
Sat Mar 17 – 7th-8th place playoff, 9th-10th place playoff
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Director: Laila Abbas
Starring: Yasmine Al Massri, Clara Khoury, Kamel El Basha, Ashraf Barhoum
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The five pillars of Islam
Padmaavat
Director: Sanjay Leela Bhansali
Starring: Ranveer Singh, Deepika Padukone, Shahid Kapoor, Jim Sarbh
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