flyadeal (F3, Jeddah International) will issue a Request For Proposals (RFP) to both Airbus (AIB, Toulouse Blagnac) and Boeing (BOE, Washington National) for the supply of up to fifty narrowbody aircraft by year-end the Saudi budget carrier's chief executive, Con Korfiatis, has told The National newspaper.

“We're looking at around 50 aircraft including options. This will be with the manufacturers,” he said. “We expect to issue that RFP very shortly over the next month.”

Earlier in October, Saudi Arabian Airlines Group Director General, Saleh bin Nasser al-Jasser, told Reuters talks would focus on a firm order for around thirty aircraft with the A320neo and B737 MAX under consideration.

flyadeal was launched in September and currently operates three A320-200s (all leased from DAE Capital) on flights covering Jeddah International, Riyadh, and Gassim. As a low-cost airline, it competes with the privately-owned flynas (XY, Riyadh) which, earlier this year, unveiled plans to replace its current fleet of twenty-six A320-200s and two A319-100s with eighty A320neo family aircraft from 2018 through to 2028.