Saudi budget airline flyadeal reveals plans for rapid expansion, new global routes

Saudi Arabia’s budget carrier flyadeal is on the cusp of a major expansion with more than a dozen new routes to be added to its roster, its CEO told Al Arabiya English on Tuesday.

Speaking on the side-lines of the Arabian Travel Market in Dubai, Con Korfiatis, CEO of flyadeal, the budget subsidiary of flag carrier Saudia, said: “There will be lots of growth. Lots of thickening up the routes we are already on. In 2023 there will be a big step up for us.”

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Launched in 2017, flyadeal reported massive growth in the last five-and-a-half years. It now operates almost 30 aircrafts, has flown more than 20 million passengers – including nine million in 2023 alone – a 50 percent year-on-year growth, said Korfiatis.

Currently, flyadeal is the second largest airline domestically in Saudi Arabia.

It was late 2021 that the airline began branching out to international routes, this was “modestly’ expanded on in 2022 and the next 12 months will see “significant” developments in the global airline space, said Korfiatis.

“Today, we have six destinations in our network and we’re starting 11 new destinations in summer and another five or six destinations before the end of the year.”

“So, it’s a big step up into the international market or this year.”

New routes, new markets

This will see expansion into the short-distance market – flights up to six hours from Saudi Arabia – which have proven to be in demand, said Korfiatis.

“This is a sweet spot for us,” he said. “So, we go to new markets for this year into Europe where we’re going to Bosnia, Montenegro, Greece, Cyprus.”

The airline is also “big in Egypt” as is Turkey, which will see flyadeal aggressively expanding new routes to the capital of Istanbul.

Other route expansion includes Georgia, Tbilisi, Azerbaijan, and Kuwait.

A new route to Saudi Arabia’s neighboring Dubai from Jeddah will be launched in the summer, adding to its popular Riyadh-Dubai route; the frequency of which will also be stepped up.

Later in the year, the airline will be looking at other GCC routes, as well as routes to Pakistan and India.

“We look to markets that have outbound potential. In Saudi Arabia we have very avid travelers who love to travel and see and explore.”

Religious tourism – including Saudi Arabia’s historic sites of worship – are also a key factor in flyadeal’s success – and part of its expansion plans.

“That’s been absolutely booming this year. Of course, Saudi Arabia’s developing a tourism agenda and an events agenda. It is growing at a very high rate (and) as time goes on, it will become more significant.”

“It’s a publicly stated target that we’re looking for 100 million visitors by 2030 for the Kingdom.”

A low-cost airline like flyadeal fills a gap in the market for people wanting a budget trip in and out of Saudi Arabia, amid its burgeoning appeal as a tourism hub and gateway to the wider world, said Korfiatis.

“The demand is definitely there.”

Expanding and recruiting

As the airline widens its routes and eyes international expansion, flyadeal also plans to aggressively increase its number of aircrafts – from its current fleet of 28 to 110 by 2030 – and step up its hiring and recruitment process – which they will prioritize Saudi nationals for.

They plan to boost their workforce by 40 percent- growing to about 1,500 staff by the end of the year.

“We are invested in Saudi Arabia. We’re an enabler and a pillar of the 2030 vision, as part of an industry and an ecosystem, to bring people into and outside of Saudi Arabia. And as a growth industry, we’re providing great opportunity for young Saudis to come in and have a career in aviation.”

Saudi airline flyadeal hails first flight with all-female crew from Riyadh to the Red Sea coastal city of Jeddah on May 19, 2022. (Twitter/@flyadeal)

Korfiatis said the airline has been able to develop and grow aggressively because they were unaffected by COVID-19 unlike most carriers across the globe.

“We were really fortunate because when we went into COVID-19, we weren’t getting into the international market and the domestic market opened up within three and a half months. So we were in a position of not terminating anybody and not have to cut anybody’s salary and nor did have to dip into our cash reserves.

“So, we did pretty well. I think early last year we were still in recovery mode. (But) by the end of last year the pendulum had swung completely the other way. Business is growing phenomenally good.”

The airline has already celebrated a number of firsts for the aviation industry.

In May 2022, flyadeal completed the country’s first flight with an all-female crew, in a route from the capital Riyadh to the Red Sea coastal city of Jeddah. The majority of the female staff were Saudi nationals.

In 2019, the authority announced the first flight with a female Saudi co-pilot.

Saudi officials are trying to engineer a rapid expansion of the aviation sector that would turn the kingdom into a global travel hub.

Goals include more than tripling annual traffic to 330 million passengers by the end of the decade, drawing $100 billion in investments to the sector by 2030, constructing a new “mega airport” in Riyadh and moving up to five million tonnes of cargo each year.

Read more:

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