Aims to complement its sister brand Saudia in India
At a time when fuel prices are at a psychological high, flyadeal, the LCC arm of Saudia Group, has made its second gateway launch in India with direct daily flights to Mumbai from Riyadh.
Going forward, the airline is keen to add Lucknow, Calicut, Delhi, and Chennai on its India network, and offer a wide spectrum of flights to Riyadh and Jeddah, while complementing its sister brand Saudia, a full-service carrier. While the codeshare between Saudia and Air India is already live, flyadeal and Air India Express will soon join the agreement.
In July this year, flyadeal made its India debut with five-times-a-week flights to Hyderabad. Alongside, from September, the airline has joined BSP (Billing Settlement Plan) allowing agents in India to book seats on the GDS platforms.
After its launch in 2017, flyadeal is keen to position itself as airline that not only offers competitive airfares, but flexibility of bookings through varied distribution channels unlike in its former avatar of only digital securing of seats.
With the Mumbai launch, flyadeal now operates five times a week between Mumbai and Riyadh using its modern fleet of A320neo aircraft, adding more than 7,400 seats each month between the two cities and providing travellers with greater choice and convenience when flying between India and Saudi Arabia.
flyadeal’s A320neo aircraft operating on the route feature 186 seats in an all-Economy Class configuration, each offering USB-A or USB-C charging ports, and Airbus’ acclaimed Airspace cabin interior, with extra-large overhead bins for increased stowage capacity, as well as cabin design and lighting created to provide a welcoming ambience and maximise comfort.
Sanjiv Kapoor, acting CEO, flyadeal and Executive Vice President Strategies at Saudia Group, said, “India is one of the world’s largest and fastest-growing aviation markets and a strategic priority for flyadeal as we continue to expand our international network. With Saudi Arabia now one of India’s top three largest international travel markets and travel and tourism flows between the two countries continuing to grow, we see tremendous potential to connect more travellers through convenient, affordable and reliable services”.
Kapoor added, “As the third-largest low-cost airline in the Middle East region, we are committed to strengthening our presence in India, and Mumbai is an important milestone in that journey. Beyond connecting Mumbai with Saudi Arabia’s capital, the new service also opens up convenient access to destinations across the Kingdom through seamless onward connections on a single booking. Importantly, flyadeal flights use the state-of-the-art Terminal 1 at Jeddah with bullet train access directly from the terminal to both Makkah and Madinah, as well as Terminal 4 at Riyadh which offer quick and seamless connections to flyadeal’s extensive domestic network. Combined with other new initiatives that provide greater flexibility, convenience, and peace of mind when planning travel, we are enhancing the overall customer experience while remaining committed to delivering dependable travel at affordable fares.”
Commenting on their bilaterals with India, Kapoor said that they have enough capactity for seat expansion; however, the challenge is the expansion of stations in India. “Currently, the agreement allows us to operate flights to 8 stations in India, therefore, in the next round we are keen to expand capacity to Lucknow, Calicut, Delhi, Chennai, Kolkata, and also to Dhaka and Chittagong in the coming months. We also plan to introduce the Premium Economy product on Saudia next year, on our retrofit aircraft, and deploy these wide-body aircraft to India. In terms of brand, Saudia will now be positioned as a premium product, while flyadeal will be a mass airline, catering to a large section of travellers and even labour traffic.”
Currently, flyadeal has 47 aircraft in its fleet, and has an order book of 63+ planes, to operate 100 aircraft by 2030. “The Hyderabad route has seen a load factor of over 80% since its launch in July.”
Plans to complement its sister brand Saudia in India
At a time when fuel prices are at a psychological high, flyadeal, the LCC arm of Saudia, has made its second gateway launch in India with direct daily flights to Mumbai from Riyadh.
Going forward, the airline is keen to add Lucknow, Calicut, Delhi, Chennai and Kolkata on its India network and offer a wide spectrum of flights to Riyadh, while complimenting its sister brand Saudia. While the codeshare between Saudia and Air India is live, flyadeal and Air India Express will soon join the network.
In July this year, the airline made its India debut with five-times-a-week flights to Hyderabad. Alongside, from September, the airline has joined BSP (Billing Settlement Plan) allowing agents in India to book seats on the GDS platforms.
After its launch in 2017, flyadeal is keen to position itself as airline that not only offers competitive airfares, but flexibility of bookings through varied distribution channels unlike its former avatar of only digital securing of seats.
With the Mumbai launch, flyadeal now operates five times a week between Mumbai and Riyadh using its modern fleet of A320neo aircraft, adding more than 7,400 seats each month between the two cities and providing travellers with greater choice and convenience when flying between India and Saudi Arabia.
flyadeal’s A320neo aircraft operating on the route feature 186 seats in an all-Economy Class configuration, each offering USB-A or USB-C charging ports, and Airbus’ acclaimed Airspace cabin interior, with extra-large overhead bins for increased stowage capacity, as well as cabin design and lighting created to provide a welcoming ambience and maximise comfort.
Sanjiv Kapoor, acting CEO, flyadeal and Executive Vice President Strategies at Saudia Group, said, “India is one of the world’s largest and fastest-growing aviation markets and a strategic priority for flyadeal as we continue to expand our international network. With Saudi Arabia now one of India’s top three largest international travel markets and travel and tourism flows between the two countries continuing to grow, we see tremendous potential to connect more travellers through convenient, affordable and reliable services”.
Kapoor added, “As the third-largest low-cost airline in the Middle East region, we are committed to strengthening our presence in India, and Mumbai is an important milestone in that journey. Beyond connecting Mumbai with Saudi Arabia’s capital, the new service also opens up convenient access to destinations across the Kingdom through seamless onward connections on a single booking. Importantly, flyadeal flights use the state-of-the-art Terminal 1 at Jeddah with bullet train access directly from the terminal to both Makkah and Madinah, as well as Terminal 4 at Riyadh which offer quick and seamless connections to flyadeal’s extensive domestic network. Combined with other new initiatives that provide greater flexibility, convenience, and peace of mind when planning travel, we are enhancing the overall customer experience while remaining committed to delivering dependable travel at affordable fares.”
Commenting on their bilaterals with India, Kapoor said that they have enough capactity for seat expansion; however, the challenge remains is the expansion of stations in India. “Currently, the agreement allows us to operate flights to 8 stations in India, therefore, in the next round we are keen to expand capacity to Lucknow, Calicut, Delhi, Chennai, Kolkata, and also to Dhaka and Chittagong in the coming months. We also plan to introduce premium Economy product on Saudia next year, on our retrofit aircraft, and fly these wide-body aircraft to India. In terms of brand positioning, Saudia will now be positioned as a premium product, while flyadeal will be a mass airline, catering to a large section of travellers and labourers.”
Currently, flyadeal has 47 aircraft in its fleet, and has an order book of 63+ planes, to operate 100 aircraft by 2030. “The Hyderabad route has seen a load factor of over 80% since its launch in July.”
| Origin | Destination | Days of Operation | Departure Time | Arrival Time |
| Riyadh | Mumbai | All days except Mondays and Fridays | 0055 | 0740 |
| Mumbai | Riyadh | 0840 | 1015 | |
| Riyadh | Hyderabad | All days except Sundays and Tuesdays | 23:25 | 06:50 (+1) |
| Hyderabad | Riyadh | All days except Mondays and Wednesdays | 07:55 | 10:15 |