Budget airline Flyadeal considers premium economy seats on wide-body jets

Saudi Arabian carrier 'very close' on ordering 15 aircraft, as decision depends on securing 'water-tight' engines deal, chief executive says

Flyadeal plans to triple its workforce size by 2030 to 5,000 pilots and cabin crew as it adds wide-body aircraft to its fleet. Photo: Flyadeal.

Saudi Arabia's low-cost airline Flyadeal is considering premium economy seats on long-haul flights, as a decision on its first wide-body jet order is expected by the end of October, its chief executive said.

The airline will choose between the Airbus A330 Neo and Boeing 787 Dreamliner models, with a decision mainly depending on getting the best contracts for the jet engines, Steven Greenway, Flyadeal's chief executive, told The National on the sidelines of Routes World in Bahrain.

The move to buy twin-aisle jets comes as Flyadeal seeks to expand into long-haul destinations in Western Europe and South-east Asia, with the budget airline considering a change from its single-class cabin.

“We'll look at a small premium cabin for our wide-bodies. I'm talking about something akin to an Economy Plus or a Premium Economy type of product. Once the flight is over four or five hours, there is a small segment that sits there and says, 'I don't want to be in an Economy seat, I want a bit more space',” he said.

“You've got a little bit more real estate on a wide-body and you've got a little bit more flexibility on what you can and cannot do … I'd envisage it to be functional, comfortable and a small part of the cabin for those people who wish to upgrade.”

This comes as the airline focuses on expansion of its international route network, moving to capture a larger share of pilgrim traffic into Saudi Arabia as well as the “high-volume and low-yield” workers traffic.

The all-Airbus fleet operator currently has 35 Airbus narrow-body jets and, in May, placed its largest order yet for a further 51 Airbus A320 family aircraft comprising 12 A320 Neos and 39 of the larger A321 Neos.

Its rival, Saudi Arabian budget carrier Flynas, in July signed an initial pact with Airbus for 75 A320 Neos and 15 A330 Neo wide-bodies.

Flynas already operates a Premium Class on international routes that features more comfortable seats, higher baggage allowance and priority boarding service.

Jet order talks

Flyadeal is nearing a decision on its wide-body order of 15 jets amid discussions with the two plane manufacturers as it considers factors including the airframe, engines, delivery dates, financing and fleet compatibility.

“We are very close. We'll be done by the end of the month,” Mr Greenway said.

Engine discussions have been “predominantly the sticking point” in terms of finalising the deal.

“On the engine piece, it's taking us a bit longer because all airlines are now looking at their engine contracts and saying 'given what we're seeing with the new generation of engines, how do we make sure we have a better insurance policy, better support, better access to spare parts and guarantees about shop time visits?'” Mr Greenway said.

This comes as airlines face higher-than-expected repair costs for new generation engines and performance issues on some models.

The engine discussions “are not a poor reflection of the engine manufacturer per se, it's more about making sure as best as we can that we have a watertight deal on the engines,” Mr Greenway said.

“It's really us being doubly cautious and making sure that we integrate all the learning that we've had in the past couple of years with engines and making sure we've got that covered.”

The A330 Neo has a single engine supplier, with UK engine manufacturer Rolls-Royce's Trent 7000 engine powering that plane. The Boeing 787 Dreamliners can be powered by the General Electric GEnx or the Rolls-Royce Trent 1000 engines.

Opting for the 787s means greater “commonality” as Flyadeal's sister company Saudia already operates the model. Opting for the A330 Neo means the all-Airbus operators sticks with the one-model concept that simplifies operations. It also means shorter training time for the pilots of 10 days compared with about four months if it picks the Boeing model, Mr Greenway said.

Boeing has been “self-consumed” by safety turnaround efforts and dealing with union workers strikes, but it is critical for the airline industry to have two strong competing plane-makers.

“They just can't seem to get any luck, can they?” Mr Greenway said.

“Our position is 'Get your act together, we need a proper second OEM [original equipment manufacturer].' We need them to be re-engaged with the market and get on top of their issues.”

The strike by about 33,000 of the planemaker's US West Coast factory workers is the latest development in a tumultuous year for Boeing that began with a January incident in which a door panel detached from a new 737 Max jet during a flight.

Tripling workforce by 2030

Flyadeal is targeting first delivery of its first wide-body aircraft by 2027 or 2028, Mr Greenway said.

To help operate these larger aircraft and the incoming deliveries of narrow-body jets, the airline is planning to triple its workforce by 2030 to at least 5,000 staff with a focus on hiring more cabin crew and pilots, Mr Greenway said.

That is up from 1,400 currently and 1,900 in 2025 as it continues to grow.

In four years, Flyadeal will have 88 narrow-body aircraft in its fleet as it takes delivery of aircraft on the order book. Adding the 15 planned wide-bodies, it will have 103 aircraft in the next five to six years, he said.

Flyadeal currently operates wide-bodies on a wet-lease basis during the busy Hajj season. Under a wet lease arrangement, the lessor maintains operational control of flights while providing aircraft and crew to the airline.

The airline wants to make a major push to capture year-long Umrah traffic and also carry more people during the next Hajj season, particularly from South Asia markets.

“We will have up to eight wide-bodies joining us from January next year, all on a wet-lease basis, to really make a substantial push into Umrah and then Hajj comes along after that and then the peak summer season,” Mr Greenway said, noting that this is a capacity increase of about 60 per cent.

25 new routes in 2025

Flyadeal plans to launch at least 25 more routes in 2025 as it seeks to grow rapidly next year and expand its international network, Mr Greenway said. It will start announcing the first of these new routes next month for flights starting in January and February.

The 25 new routes will be launched by summer next year and in the second half of 2025 there may be more new ones added as the airline gets delivery of new aircraft, he said.

Flyadeal – which operates from three bases in Dammam, Jeddah, and Riyadh – said these routes will be a mix of new countries it has not flown to before and new flights from different parts of the kingdom to an existing destination.

“I call it joining the dots. For example, we fly to Cairo but we will have more destinations from the kingdom going into Cairo. And we've got brand new countries as well,” he said.

The airline currently flies to 32 destinations, a mix of year-round and seasonal routes, in Saudi Arabia, Middle East and North Africa.

In its push into international routes next year, the airline is “starting to stretch our legs” with flights of up to four to five hours, he said.

The airline's traffic is currently split into a ratio of 80:20 in favour of domestic operations.

With the new routes, this ratio will change to 65:35 by the end of 2025 as it focuses on international expansion, Mr Greenway said.

Ultimately, the aim is to divide traffic equally in a 50:50 split by 2030 as more international routes are launched.

'Series charter' services

Flyadeal is increasing its focus on so-called series charter flights to secure a bigger share of the year-long Umrah traffic to the kingdom, Mr Greenway said, referring to a set of charter flights over a specific period of time.

For example, Flyadeal has 150 flights booked to transport Umrah pilgrims into and out of Iraq over the next four months. It also has 50 flights booked to carry Umrah pilgrims from Turkey to Saudi Arabia before the end of the year, he said.

“The reason why we like series charters is it's scheduled, we can plan against it and you've got the aircraft used up over a significant period of time,” he said.

“This is evidence of having more capability commercially, where we're engaging with tour operators who want airlift specific to them and who what to create a dedicated experience for their customers and have control over that experience.”

Series charters provide a “nice and steady” stream of business.

“The great thing is, we're not doing any of the marketing or selling [of flights]. That is done upstream by third-parties. We simply provide the aircraft and they provide us the passenger names 24 hours before departure,” he said.

'All you can fly' passes

After laying the groundwork this year for expansion, the airline will “flip back into growth mode” with the new international route launches and series charters, its chief executive said.

“We're really coming into 2025 very strongly,” he said, adding that the airline has seen “minimal impact” from the wars in Gaza and Lebanon.

The airline is also considering introducing an all-you-can-fly subscription service to attract more loyal customers.

“We find the concept appealing, especially for our domestic markets, for example where the road warriors are flying between Jeddah and Riyadh,” Mr Greenway said.

“We are aiming to decide on this by the end of the year.”