RIYADH (Reuters) -Saudi Arabia’s newest airline Riyadh Air said on Tuesday it had placed an order for 60 Airbus narrowbody A321-family jets as it prepares to start operations in 2025.
The deal, signed at the Future Investment Initiative forum in Riyadh, brings to 132 the total number of jets ordered by the Saudi startup, which last year ordered 39 Boeing 787 Dreamliners with options for 33 more.
Financial terms were not disclosed but such a deal would be worth around $4 billion after typical discounts, based on estimated delivery prices from aviation consultancy Cirium Ascend.
A Riyadh Air spokesperson said the deliveries would start in the second half of 2026 – an unusually short lead time given the aircraft industry’s congested production lines and strong demand that has seen Airbus sold out for most models through the end of the decade.
Industry sources said the timing suggested Riyadh Air had been able to secure early slots as many carriers across the world struggle to make good on pending orders because of weak balance sheets.
Airbus declined to comment on the timing of deliveries.
The deal follows months of speculation after a report that Riyadh Air, which is owned by Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund, had chosen to buy at least 100 Boeing 737 MAX aircraft to meet its narrowbody needs alongside the larger Boeing 787s.
The airline had cautioned, however, that it was in the midst of a sequence of potential orders and that it was studying both Boeing and Airbus for the next narrowbody purchase.
(Reporting by Yousef Saba, Pesha Magid; Writing by Dominique Vidalon, Tim Hepher; Editing by Makini Brice, Richard Lough and Elaine Hardcastle)
