Saudia in talks with Airbus, Boeing for wide-body jets, CEO says

Saudi Arabian Airlines is in talks with Airbus] and Boeing for a wide-body jet order, with a decision expected next year, its CE said Sunday. The state-owned carrier, also known as Saudia, is planning to expand rapidly over the next eight years as part of a government strategy to transform the kingdom into a transport hub. "It's a good size fleet order that will have to be placed," Chief Executive Ibrahim Koshy told Reuters at the Dubai Airshow, without disclosing how many aircraft it would order. "It's something that will take place. Definitely in 2022." The order would help fuel network expansion to 135 mostly international destinations by 2030, up from 90 in 2019 which included 28 destinations in Saudi Arabia, he said. It would later post orders to replace older aircraft and expand its narrow body fleet, while some aircraft types will be removed to simplify the fleet, Koshy said. Saudia is expanding ahead of a planned launch of a new state-owned airline to based in the capital, Riyadh.<br/>