flydubai (FZ, Dubai International) is in talks with Airbus and Boeing about a major aircraft order, CEO Ghaith Al Ghaith told Bloomberg this week. The LCC is currently a Boeing-only operator, but delays and cancellations at the US manufacturer may see Airbus get the order.
"We have to make a decision for the next ten years," he said. "The opportunity is always there and there's a choice for both Airbus and Boeing."
Al Ghaith said the order size would exceed flydubai's previous orders. In December 2017, it signed an order for 175 B737-8s, with options for another 50, its biggest to date.
The airline still has 127 aircraft on order at Boeing, all of them B737-8s. The current fleet includes fifty-six B737-8s, twenty-nine B737-800s, and three B737-9s, for a total of 88 aircraft. Al Ghaith said flydubai had only received four aircraft from Boeing this year, which had all been due for delivery in previous years. He added that Boeing had told him there would be no more deliveries in 2024, branding the delays as “a moment of pure frustration.” Previously, flydubai has said the delivery delays are hindering its expansion plans.
"flydubai is in constant dialogue with the aircraft manufacturers regarding future aircraft orders," Al Ghaith told ch-aviation. "We are currently assessing our requirement for narrow body aircraft to further support our growth trajectory in the coming years. We hope that the aircraft manufacturers resolve the ongoing delivery related issues soon, reliable aircraft delivery schedules are an integral part of the success of any airline’s expansion plans."
Al Ghaith is more upbeat about the order for thirty B787-9s placed during the 2023 Dubai Air Show. He says flydubai is expecting few if any holdups to this delivery schedule, now slated to start during 2026, and that the arrival of the widebodies will allow it to fly to new destinations beyond the range of its narrowbodies.
