Flyadeal, the low-cost subsidiary of the state-owned Saudi Arabian Airlines, took its brand new delivery of Airbus A320neo. The A320neo is the first out of 30 aircraft that have been agreed to be delivered by the Airbus family by the next three years.
The Airbus press also posted the deal on their Twitter page, quoting.
.@flyadeal receives all new Airbus #A320neo https://t.co/Qv8YnFSW37 pic.twitter.com/WWb2jNKy7s
— Airbus PRESS (@AirbusPRESS) July 16, 2021
Saudi Arabian Airlines had put an order for 65 of the Airbus A320neo in at the Paris Airshow, 2019. The 65 of the fuel-efficient longer-range single-aisle air vessels are designated to join the Flyadeal’s Airbus air fleet. Flyadeal had been previously using the leased Airbus A320 variants since September 2017
The A320neo air vessels from the Airbus family have minimum changes, almost 95% airframe commonality with its predecessor A320ceo, but with maximum benefit in the company’s A320 variant. As one of the most popular series of the Airbus A320 family, this aircraft has received more than 7,400 orders from more than 120 customers worldwide.
A320neo At New Heights of Fuel Efficiency
Even among Airbus’ popular A320 product lines regarded as the world’s most advanced and fuel-efficient single-aisle jetliners, the A320neo outshines others with its new height of fuel efficiency and capability to cover the great distance of 4,000 miles in a single flight.
The aircraft with the new engine option has been one of the many upgrades introduced by the Airbus family to carry the legacy of the A320 variant to the future. One of the major upgrades in this air vessel has been the two variants of new-generation engines, the PurePower PW1100G-JM from Pratt and Whitney and the LEAP-1A from the CFM international. The powerful newer version of engines used in the aircraft delivers an improvement of 20% more in the fuel efficiency per seat and additional 500miles of range or the weight option of 2 tonnes of extra payload.
Besides that, the fuel-efficient larger wingtip devices known as Sharklets further enhance the aircraft’s performance. The A320neo has a height of 11.76m, wingspan of 35.80m, an overall length of 37.57mn, and can accommodate 150 to 180 passengers in two classes configuration with a maximum capacity of 194 passengers.
The A320neo aircraft has also significantly improved its environmental performance by reducing 50% of its noise footprint from the previous generation aircraft from the A320 product line.
Airbus over Boeing 737MAX?
The Saudi Arabian Airline had decided not to proceed with the Boeing 737MAX for its subsidiary airlines Flyadeal in July 2019. The airlines decided to opt-out for the Airbus A320 product line over the Boeing 737MAX variant, which had been grounded for two years after two crashes in Indonesia and Ethiopia, which resulted in massive life-loss of combined 346 people.
Flyadeal airlines announced that they would be taking 30 of Airbus A320neo ordered by its parent airlines over the Boeing 737MAX, Saudi Arabian Airlines, at the Paris Air Show in June 2019. The announcement also made it pretty clear how the airlines was planning to run an entire Airbus fleet in the future.
However, it didn’t seem that the airlines had lost confidence in one of the biggest aviation companies in the world; the reason for not finalizing the commitment to the Boeing 737MAX aircraft was due to the airline’s scheduled requirement, which was clarified in the announcement. Flyadeal had signed a commitment to order 30 of the Boeing 737MAX jetliners in December 2018, with 20 the purchasing option of 20 more. The cancellation of the deal from Flyadeal cost Boeing worth $5.9 billion loss.
Despite the dissolution of the agreement, the long-term partnership between Saudi Arabian Airlines and Boeing hasn’t been foiled. The airlines revealed its intentions to buy the Boeing 777 and Boeing 787 Dreamliner wide-bodies in March 2021. Although the exact number of aircraft ordered from Boeing is yet to be revealed, the two of the major influencer in the aviation industry seem to be on good terms even after breaking off a $5 billion worth of agreement.
The airlines had received $7 billion in direct payments, and other financial supports through 2019 and 2020 from the government for the big purchase as the airlines’ company has been struggling with major losses and after-effects of the global pandemic.
There are currently 51 total Boeing aircraft, 33 Boeing B777-368ERs, and 18 Boeing B787s in Saudi Arabia Airline’s fleet.
