flyadeal Takes Delivery Of Its 1st A320neo From An Order For 30
Saudi Arabian budget airline flyadeal just took delivery of a brand new Airbus A320neo. While the aircraft is technically the airline’s second A320neo, it is the first coming from an order of 30, which is to be delivered over the next three years. Let’s take a look at the new aircraft and its journey to Jeddah.
The A320neo is technically the airline’s second, with the first coming to the airline pre-owned in 2020. Photo: Airbus
From Toulouse to Jeddah
The brand new Airbus A320neo registered HZ-FAN departed Airbus’ assembly facilities in Toulouse on July 15th at 20:36. With the evening departure, the aircraft’s six-and-a-half-hour flight to Jeddah was an overnight journey, seeing an arrival in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia the next day just after 04:00 local time.
The A320neo appears to have taken a fairly indirect flight path towards its new home. For reasons unknown, the jet appears to have gone out of its way to fly through a specific part of Austria’s airspace before heading towards Saudi Arabia. It appears that the jet also made a point of avoiding Greek airspace (as well as the air above Albania, Montenegro, and North Macedonia.)
The first A320neo of a 30-aircraft order
flyadeal’s brand new A320neo is the first out of 30 to be delivered in the next three years. However, the 30 A320neos that were ordered were part of an even larger deal that was announced at the 2019 Paris Airshow.
This larger order consists of a total of 65 Airbus A320 family jets ordered by flyadeal’s parent company, Saudi Arabian Airlines (Saudia). With 30 A320neos going to flyadeal, the remaining aircraft (20 A321neos and 15 A321XLRs) will go to Saudia.
While it’s the first A320neo of the 30-aircraft order, it’s flyadeal’s second A320neo. The first joined the fleet in August of 2020 through a lease with Avolon. This aircraft, registered HZ-FAL, had been originally ordered by Tianjin Airlines but was not taken up.
Airbus notes that flyadeal’s A320neo is configured with 186 seats in an all-economy class layout, calling it the ideal aircraft for the airline to “grow and expand its domestic and regional network.”
In total, flyadeal now has a fleet of 13 Airbus A320s. As noted previously, two are A320neos while the other 11 are A320ceo variants. The A320ceos themselves are relatively young, having an average sub-fleet age of just 3.3 years.
flyadeal’s older A320neo is about one and a half years old, while the brand new jet had its first test flight at the start of June 2021. AIB Family Flight data shows that more A320neos are on the way. The aircraft registered HZ-FAO took its third test flight out of Toulouse on July 15th, while HZ-FAM took its second test flight on July 16th.
