Qatar Airways and Saudia announced orders for various builds of commercial and freight aircrafts during the 2015 Paris Airshow, which underline their optimistic stance as far as growth in travel from and into the region is concerned.

Saudia placed an order for 20 units of the Airbus A330-300 and 30 basic A320s. Weighing around 200 tonnes, the A330-300 variant targets high-density short routes of up to 3,000 nautical miles (nm). Saudia is said to be the first carrier to operate this fleet. The order is estimated to be worth $8.2bn based on the aircraft models’ list prices.

Qatar Airways, on the other hand, opted for 10 Boeing 777-8Xs and four 777 freighters, an order valued at an estimated $4.8bn, also based on list prices.

Boeing’s 777X fleet is scheduled to start production in 2017 with its first delivery, to launch client Emirates Airlines, falling due in 2020. The 777X family will utilise features based on technologies used to build the 787 Dreamliner.