Riyadh Air (RXI, Riyadh) has confirmed plans to order more widebody aircraft next year, Chief Financial Officer (CFO) Adam Boukadida told journalists at the Future Investment Initiative forum on October 31, 2024. His disclosure follows the start-up announcing an order for sixty A321neo family aircraft earlier in the week.
"We will do our third request for proposal for an ultra-widebody, which has in excess of 300 seats, but that will be next year,” Boukadida said. "It could be Boeing, it could be Airbus. At the moment, we’re very happy having the relationship with both of these key suppliers."
Boukadida flagged the order in an interview with ch-aviation at the IATA AGM in June, saying the airline wanted something bigger than the B787 and was mulling either a B777 type or A350-1000.
Riyadh Air, which hopes to be operating by the start of the northern 2025 summer, placed an order with Boeing in 2023 for thirty-nine B787-9s, with options for another 33. The airline aims to serve 100 routes by 2030 and more than 120 by 2035.
At the same event, Riyadh Air CEO Tony Douglas told Bloomberg TV this week's Airbus narrowbody order would likely include at least three variants. "It's about performance," he said. "For us, the performance of the A321neo family is exceptional because there is a regular A321neo, a long-range variant, and an extra-long-range variant. That gives us the flexibility to configure (the order) with the missions we want to operate."
Meanwhile, Riyadh Air has also announced the successful closing of a self-arranged Islamic one-year unsecured revolving credit facility amounting to SAR3 billion riyal (USD788.9 million). Also signed at the same forum, the airline said the facility highlighted its strong market positioning and state of readiness. The funding will help underwrite Riyadh Air's aircraft acquisitions and short-term working capital needs before its launch.
"This financing not only strengthens our liquidity but also aligns with our strategy to maintain financial discipline as we approach our operational debut," said Boukadida.
Participating financial institutions included the Arab National Bank, Al Rajhi Bank, Gulf International Bank, Emirates NBD, Riyad Bank, Banque Saudi Fransi, Saudi Awwal Bank, and the Saudi National Bank.
The facility also includes a committed accordion option for an additional SAR 2 billion (USD532.6 million).
