Saudi Arabia’s flynas mid-year passenger numbers soar to 7 million
Saudi carrier boosts capacity by 37% and adds 160 Airbus aircraft to fleet
Riyadh: Saudi Arabia-based low-cost carrier flynas announced a 47 per cent increase in passenger numbers for the first half of 2024, exceeding 7 million passengers. This growth comes alongside a 37 per cent rise in seat capacity for domestic and international flights compared to last year, the airline said in a statement. The announcement follows flynas’ landmark purchase of 160 Airbus Neo jets amid the Farnborough International Airshow, UK.
The airline took delivery of six A320neo aircraft in 2024, which helped the airline reinforce its operations and created hundreds of new jobs for Saudis. Adding 25 new A320neo aircraft over the past 18 months brings its fleet to 60.
It also opened applications for a new batch to the Future Pilots program, aiming to nationalise the co-pilot position in flynas by 100 per cent.
Bander Almohanna, CEO and Managing Director of flynas, said, “Our strategic growth plans drive our record performance during the first half of 2024 as we continue to upgrade our fleet, increase capacity, and expand our global network.”
Our strategy will also play a key part in driving the objectives of the pilgrims experience programme to facilitate access to the Two Holy Mosques, successfully transporting more than 100,000 pilgrims from 20 countries in the first half of the year.
The airline’s strategy, ‘We Connect the World to the Kingdom,’ aligns with the objectives of the National Civil Aviation Strategy, which aims to enable Saudi carriers to connect the Kingdom with 250 International destinations, accommodate 330 million passengers, and host 100 million tourists annually by 2030.
Almohanna also said that increasing seat capacity for domestic summer destinations confirms flynas's commitment to supporting the tourism sector and achieving the goals set by Saudi Vision 2030. “In terms of our international flights, we increased our presence in key domestic, regional, and international markets, including partnerships with other airlines to expand our network,” the CEO explained.
Additionally, the airline’s future engineers programme has accepted 22 Saudis into its second batch at the beginning of this year.
The airline operates over 1,800 weekly flights to over 70 domestic and international destinations and has transported more than 78 million passengers since its launch in 2007.