Saudi Arabian Airlines has for the last two years been consistently adding new aircraft to its fleet, acquiring the latest aircraft types – both narrow and wide-body – to meet its expansion plans.
The airline will receive its 29th new aircraft of the year, an A330-300 Regional, by the end of this week with several other aircraft due to be received by the end of next month.
The Airbus A320 family, A330s as well as Boeing 777s and 787 Dreamliners are all currently in Saudia’s fleet mix.
A combined total of 60 new aircraft will have been delivered between last year and end of this year, putting Saudia on track to count to reach 200 aircraft by 2020.
So far this year the airline has inducted seven A320s; eight A330-Regional; six Boeing 777-300ERs and seven Boeing 787-9 Dreamliners.
Given the current delivery schedule, a new aircraft is delivered to the airline every ten days, on average.
The airline currently operates to 89 destinations, and has more than 500 departures daily – set to double to more than 1,000 by 2020.
Commenting on the accelerated growth of Saudia’s fleet and overall Transformation Plan, Saudi Arabian Airlines director general, Saleh bin Nasser Al-Jasser, said: “The national carrier of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia is undergoing rapid growth in all areas across the airline – most notably the fleet – as well as on-board product and services, technological advancements and route expansion.
“The new fleet acquisition plan has carefully been selected according to the markets in which we serve, with the aim to provide the highest level of comfort and most advanced air travel experience for all of our guests.”
Saudia covers 62 international destinations across four continents, in addition to all 27 domestic airports in Saudi Arabia.
The airline’s quarter three this year was the highest-performing ever in the carrier’s history in terms of number of international passengers carried.