Saudi Arabia’s largest ever aircraft order has been placed – and the sale is not going to Boeing. An order for 105 Airbus planes has been placed with the Toulouse-based manufacturer, according to an announcement by Ibrahim Al-Omar, director general of Saudia Group, the state controller of the Saudia airline and budget carrier Flyadeal.
Worth $19 billion, according to the Future Aviation Forum in Riyadh, where Al-Omar made the news public, it remains unclear if the deal is in his words “the largest deal in the history of Saudi aviation,” due to the number of aircraft involved or the amount of money being spent.
Benoît de Saint-Exupéry, Executive Vice President Sales of the Commercial Aircraft Business, @Airbus visited the #Saudia stand at the #FutureAviationForum and explored its latest services contributing to enhancing the travel experience, along with its future aspirations aligned… pic.twitter.com/JellUzqmKv
— Saudia Group | مجموعة السعودية (@SaudiaGroup) May 20, 2024
Boeing’s recent manufacturing and reputational woes may have played a part in the Saudi choice of supplier, but the Saudia Group already operates a majority Airbus fleet, with just 51 out of its 144 planes supplied by Boeing. 39 other Airbus are already on order and will be added to by the latest purchase of 12 A320neo and 93 A321neo aircraft, taking the total order backlog to 144.
The A320 Family is able to operate on 50% Sustainable Aviation Fuel (SAF) and is “the world’s most popular single aisle aircraft having won over 18,000 orders from over 300 customers in all markets,” Airbus said in a press release. Part of its popularity is down to its 50% noise reduction and at least 20% fuel savings and CO2 reduction compared to previous generation single-aisle aircraft.
These factors may have played into the Saudi choice, as it diversifies away from oil with its Vision 2030 programme to turn the Gulf kingdom into a world-beating tourist destination and a National Tourism Strategy to attract 150 million tourists per year.
“Saudia has ambitious operational objectives to meet growing demand,” Al-Omar said. “We are increasing flights and seat capacity across our existing 100-plus destinations on four continents, with plans for further expansion.”
Boeing meanwhile has reported adjusted losses of $31 billion since 2019, when its best-selling Max 737 was grounded after fatal crashes that year and the year before. And this year, amid ongoing whistleblower accusations of poor manufacturing standards and a series of aviation safety incidents including parts falling off planes mid-flight, the giant has seen its stock price drop by 28%. Heightened scrutiny of its processes is not helping it to make planes fast enough to catch up on its own backlog, but even so, losing out on such a huge order to its European rival will be another hammer blow.
