Saudi budget airline flynas confirms IPO this year: Reports

Saudi Arabia’s budget airline, flynas, is gearing up for its Initial Public Offering (IPO) on the country’s stock exchange, Tadawul, as reported by Bloomberg News.

The airline’s CEO Bander Almohanna confirmed the IPO date later this year, following months of preparation that involved hiring financial giants like Goldman Sachs Group, Morgan Stanley, and Saudi Fransi Capital.

Eyeing expansion amidst heightened competition in the Gulf aviation sector, flynas is considering an additionaly order for 30 wide-body aircraft. Almohanna announced the airline’s intent to invite proposals from aircraft manufacturers during the Airline Economics Growth Frontiers 2024 conference in Riyadh.

flynas expansion plans

Currently based in Jeddah, flynas operates with a fleet of over 60 Airbus A320-family aircraft.

The airline’s strategic growth plan, titled ‘We connect the world to the kingdom,’ drives the envisioned expansion.

During the conference, flynas disclosed its financial performance, boasting a 32 per cent revenue surge to SAR6.3bn ($1.68bn) in 2023. Notably, the airline has maintained profitability since 2015, with an exception during the pandemic-hit year of 2020, as per a statement.

In 2023, flynas sealed a significant deal with Airbus for 30 A320 Neo, part of a larger order of 120 aircraft valued at over SAR32bn ($8.5bn). The airline plans to upscale the order to 250 aircraft to align with Saudi Arabia’s ambitious tourism and passenger traffic targets for 2030.

With the recent delivery of its 50th A320 Neo aircraft, flynas is on track to double its fleet size, in sync with the kingdom’s vision to accommodate 330 million passengers and attract 150 million tourists annually by 2030.

Read: Saudi Arabia’s flynas carries 11 million passengers in 2023