Lisbon (Reuters) – Saudi Arabia’s new airline Riyadh Air has moved to the final stages of agreeing a sizeable order of narrow-body aircraft, with a deal likely to be announced in the coming months, CEO Tony Douglas said on Thursday, without elaborating.
Douglas first said the company was in talks with Airbus (AIR.PA) and Boeing (BA.N) to buy a significant number of narrow-body jets in June.
“Probably in the coming months we’ll reveal (the deal). We’re in the final stages of a sizable narrow-body order … and that one might not be our last order either,” he told an event in Lisbon.
He said in June the order would be finalised before next year’s Farnborough event in July in Britain, which could mean a deal could be announced at the Dubai airshow in November this year.
The new airline will take its first deliveries of wide-body jets from Boeing and start operations two years from now in the capital Riyadh.
