Air Arabia (G9, Sharjah) has taken delivery of its first A320-200N nearly 18 months after the airline originally expected to receive the aircraft. It is the first of 73 of the type that the carrier first ordered in 2019.
A6-ARA (msn 12772) arrived at Sharjah on September 25, 2025, after being ferried from Toulouse Blagnac, according to Flightradar24 ADS-B data. The airline said in a press release it expected the aircraft to enter into revenue service on October 1, 2025, with the first flight from Sharjah to Bangkok Suvarnabhumi.
The aircraft is powered by CFM International LEAP-1A engines and configured for up to 174 passengers in a single-class layout.
Air Arabia originally expected to debut the A320-200N on June 1, 2024, on scheduled flights from Sharjah to Dhaka and Karachi International. When supply chain issues at Airbus extended that date to the first half of 2025, however, the airline turned to lessors in order to continue its fleet growth.
It had previously filed schedules for A320neo aircraft in 2023 but did not add any units of the type that year.
The original 2019 order comprised 120 aircraft, namely seventy-three A320-200Ns, twenty-seven A321-200NX, and twenty A321-200NY(XLR)s. The airline subsequently inducted its first six A320neo Family aircraft, specifically A321-200NX(LR)s, on lease from Air Lease Corporation during 2019-2021. It expects to take delivery of its first in-house A321-200NY(XLR) in 2027.
Including the six LRs, Air Arabia operates 54 aircraft, also including forty-five A320-200s and three A321-200s, ch-aviation fleets data shows. Four of the A320-200s are being wet leased until the end of March 2026 - two from SmartLynx Airlines, and one each from SmartLynx Airlines Malta and SmartLynx Airlines Estonia.
The company has four group affiliates, Air Arabia Abu Dhabi, Air Arabia Egypt, Air Arabia Maroc, and Fly Jinnah, which operate twelve, four, twelve, and six A320-200s, respectively.
