Air Arabia Studying Jet Purchase: Air Arabia Chief Says Evaluating Airbus, Boeing, Bombardier Jet Options

The Wall Street Journal
By Robert Wall
Nov. 25, 2014 5:43 a.m. ET


LONDON-—Middle East carrier Air Arabia has begun the process of considering a future fleet order to assure growth once an existing order with Airbus Group NV runs out.

Air Arabia will consider buying new narrow-body aircraft from Boeing Co, the world’s largest plane maker, Canada’s Bombardier Inc., and incumbent Airbus, airline Chief Executive Adel Abdullah Ali said in an interview. The fleet decision could come in the first half of 2015, he said.

Air Arabia, which previously ordered 44 A320 single-aisle jets, will receive the last of those toward the end of 2016, Mr. Ali said. The airline is seeking additional planes to continue its growth plans.

Air Arabia is evaluating the Boeing 737 Max and Airbus A320neo, both feature new engines to gain efficiency, and Bombardier Inc.’s CSeries, which is trying to break the narrow-body duopoly between the U.S. and European plane makers, Mr. Ali said.

Boeing and Airbus have huge order books for single-aisle jets making access to new planes often difficult. Mr. Ali said he would consider leasing aircraft as a bridge.

The size of the fleet purchase hasn’t been set and will depend on the political environment in the region, Mr. Ali said. Air Arabia, based at the Sharjah airport in the United Arab Emirates, has had to navigate difficult conditions in many of its core markets as political unrest has hit across its network from north Africa to Syria.

Syria had become the largest market for Air Arabia before political unrest forced the airline to stop flying, Mr. Ali said. The carrier was able to shift capacity to Saudi Arabia, which was liberalizing market access and allowed the Air Arabia to continue its capacity growth that has averaged 16%, he said.

Political turmoil in Egypt also affected plans. Air Arabia had set up a local unit to comply with the country’s air traffic rules. Mr. Ali said the airline may consider growing operations there now that tensions in the country are starting to ease.

- Source:  http://online.wsj.com