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

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