Historic 51 aircraft order and recognition for e-commerce excellence 50th cabin crew batch trained & pilots graduate under new scheme
flyadeal, one of the youngest and fastest growing low-cost airlines in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and across the Middle East, has announced impressive 2024 half year performance figures with growth across its operations.
Compared with the first six months of 2023, the same January – June period this year saw flyadeal achieve increases in seat capacity, routes, fleet, on-time performance and workforce.
Highlights for January – June 2024 over the same period in 2023.
Over 5 million available seats marking a 9% increase.
75 routes operated, representing an 8% rise.
Fleet operated increased 12% to 33 aircraft.
On-time performance peaked at 91%.
Headcount rose sharply by 70% to 1,325 employees.
flyadeal orders a record 51 narrowbody aircraft.
50th batch of cabin crew was inducted into flyadeal’s training.
Graduation of first pilots under flyadeal’s new cadet training programme.
Key milestones included a landmark order for 51 Airbus narrowbody aircraft, including 12 further A320neos – the model being the backbone of flyadeal’s current fleet – and first-time customer of 39 bigger A321neos with deliveries scheduled from 2026.
In anticipation of continued growth, flyadeal has been busy hiring more flight crew. During the first half of 2024, flyadeal inducted its 50th batch of cabin crew and also launched a cadet programme for aspiring Saudi pilots with the first group having successfully completing their training.
flyadeal was also recognised for its pioneering work in the development and adoption of digital technology being named Saudi Arabia’s Ecommerce Innovator of the Year at the Middle East Retail and Ecommerce Summit.
Steven Greenway, flyadeal Chief Executive Officer, said: “flyadeal’s first half performance in 2024 underscores our ongoing commitment to develop as the airline of choice in the Kingdom and beyond with a focus on service excellence and introducing more digitally enabled products to improve the customer experience. Our on-time performance which measures punctuality peaked at 91 per cent, an incredible achievement and among the highest in the industry.
“These impressive accomplishments were only possible with the dedication of our partners and hard-working team of professionals across flyadeal. Employees make the difference and as we continue to evolve, the flyadeal workforce will grow from over 1,300 people across all areas of our operations to support our diverse route network with more exciting expansion planned for next year.”
By the end of summer 2024, flyadeal expects to reach another key milestone, cumulatively flying 30 million passengers since launching operations in September 2017.
flyadeal operates a fleet of 33 aircraft from bases in Jeddah, Riyadh and Dammam to a domestic and international route network covering almost 30 destinations across Saudi Arabia, Middle East, Europe and North Africa. By 2030, both fleet and destinations will triple in numbers.