Saudi national air carrier flynas said that it carried 11.1 million passengers in 2023, representing more than a 28 per cent growth over its numbers in 2022.
The low-cost airline also took delivery of 19 new aircraft last year, upscaling its fleet size to 64 aircraft, an increase of more than 35 per cent year on year.
“We have succeeded in doubling the size of our fleet by more than 100 per cent in less than two years. We also signed an agreement with Airbus to purchase 30 new A320neo aircraft as part of a 120-aircraft order with a value exceeding SAR32 billion and plan to increase the order to 250 aircraft,” said Bander Almohanna, flynas CEO and managing director.
“Our continued investments to increase the fleet size and destinations network have contributed to enhancing our leading regional and global position and to advance in the Skytrax classification, the most prestigious reference in the aviation industry, to be among the top 4 LCC in the world and the best in the Middle East,” Almohanna added.
It also launched 57 new destinations and routes to 10 countries over the course of 2023.
Furthermore, it inaugurated its fourth operations base at Prince Mohammed bin Abdulaziz International Airport in Madinah.
The airline said that its growth supported an increased seat capacity of 22 per cent for domestic and international flights.
“Flynas will keep providing innovative solutions and technologies that are reflected in the passengers’ experience as the company is moving steadily to achieve its strategic goals, in parallel with the objectives of the Pilgrims Experience Program (PEP) to facilitate access to the Two Holy Mosques and the National Civil Aviation Strategy to enable national air carriers to contribute to connecting Saudi Arabia with 250 International destinations and to accommodate 330 million passengers and to host 100 million tourists yearly by 2030,” said Almohanna.
Recently, Eve Air Mobility, an urban air mobility company founded by Embraer, signed an MoU with Saudi carrier flynas to explore the future of electric vertical take-off and landing (eVTOL) aircraft operations in the kingdom. The two entities will consider the possibility of starting eVTOL operations in Riyadh and Jeddah by 2026.
