flynas (XY, Riyadh) chief executive Bander Almohanna says the Saudi carrier is still in talks with Airbus and Boeing over a possible widebody order but that an eventual order will depend on engine manufacturers.

Speaking to Reuters earlier this week, Almohanna said the carrier was weighing up the A330neo and B787 for an order of at least ten aircraft which could be made by the end of the year.

"If Rolls-Royce doesn’t resolve the problem with its Trent 1000 engine, we won’t be signing with them," he said referring to the recent spate of Trent 1000-related B787 groundings.

The executive also said flynas is still considering converting an unspecified number of its eighty-strong order for A320neo into larger A321neo.

“We (have) started evaluating and are in discussion with Airbus,” he added.

flynas has previously noted it would use the widebody and longhaul-capable A321neo to develop Umrah routes to Europe, Africa, and Asia.

As it stands, the airline is currently in talks with international banks to raise between USD250-300 million to finance aircraft order payments.

Partly owned by Saudi billionaire Prince Alwaleed Bin Talal’s firm Kingdom Holding, flynas operates two A319-100s, twenty-six A320-200s, and two A320-200neos (with a further three due this year). Aside from domestic Saudi routes, flynas also serves Pakistan, India, the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Sudan, Egypt, Iraq, Turkey, Georgia, Azerbaijan, Jordan, Austria, Kuwait, Lebanon, and Bosnia & Herzegovina.