flynas (XY, Riyadh) is planning to establish units with their own Air Operator's Certificates in two unnamed Middle Eastern countries, Bloomberg has reported, as part of efforts to support accelerated growth and double its scale of operations.
flynas did not respond to ch-aviation's request for more details regarding the location, size, and timeline for the new carriers' launch.
The LCC said that it was considering increasing its order book to 250 aircraft, including widebodies such as B787s or A350s, to propel its international expansion.
The privately-owned Saudi carrier currently operates thirteen A320-200s, twenty-eight A320-200Ns, and two A330-300s. It has a further fifty-nine A320-200Ns and ten A321-200NY(XLR)s on order from Airbus, and is awaiting two more second-hand A330-300s.
With 240,294 weekly scheduled departure seats, it is already the largest individual LCC in the Middle East (excluding flydubai, a former LCC which has evolved into a hybrid carrier cooperating with sister airline Emirates). However, Air Arabia Group remains a larger operator on a group basis, with a total of 368,814 weekly scheduled seats split between six AOCs (including FlyArna in Armenia and Fly Jinnah in Pakistan). Air Arabia is also the only Middle Eastern-based LCC to operate a multinational group modelled similarly to AirAsia Aviation Group.
