Dubai’s closest homegrown equivalent to a low-cost carrier, FlyDubai, says it is exploring a new aircraft order and is in talks with both Boeing and rival aircraft manufacturer Airbus to carry the airline well into the next decade and beyond.
The announcement comes just days after FlyDubai blasted Boeing over lengthy delivery delays, which followed news from the aircraft manufacturer that it wouldn’t be in a position to deliver any new 737MAX jets to the airline for the rest of the year.
FlyDubai has been an all-Boeing operator since its inception in 2009, and the airline still has around 127 jets to be delivered from the Chicago-headquartered company, but senior leaders have grown increasingly irked with Boeing’s well-publicised problems.
CEO Ghaith Al Ghaith told reporters on the sidelines of the Farnborough Air Show in England this week that the airline was looking at a potentially massive new aircraft order that would ‘surpass’ previous orders to drive the airline’s growth for at least the next 10 years.
“The opportunity is always there, and there’s a choice for both Airbus and Boeing,” Al Ghaith added.
Adding Airbus planes to FlyDubai’s fleet mix would certainly add complexity and cost, although the carrier doesn’t operate to the razor-thin margins of a typical low-cost carrier.
With a view to expanding its fleet range, FlyDubai could certainly be looking at the fuel-efficient Airbus A321XLR, which has a range of up to 4,400 nautical miles but is 30% more fuel-efficient than a typical widebody aircraft operating the same route.
The problem for FlyDubai is that Airbus has been beset by its own delivery delays so simply adding another aircraft type to its fleet mix won’t necessarily fix its problems.
FlyDubai would most certainly need to secure early delivery slots to make an Airbus deal worth it and that might require some reorganization of FlyDubai’s previous aircraft orders with Boeing.
Last year, FlyDubai announced its first-ever widebody aircraft order for up to 30 Boeing 787 Dreamliners, but as aviation analyst Will Horton surmises, Airbus could require the airline to abandon that deal and instead order its A330neo widebody jet to secure early delivery slots of its popular single-aisle planes.
Al Ghaith made a rare public rebuke of Boeing on Sunday, telling the company to take “immediate action” to get its house in order and avoid further delays to an already stretched delivery timeline.
FlyDubai had originally intended to take delivery of 14 new aircraft this year but only four have been delivered and they were all from previous years backlogs. As a result, the airline is wetleasing planes to make up for the shortfall in capacity and Al Ghaith warns that planned route launches may have to be postponed.
