Saudi Arabian buys Brazilian

05 May 2005
National flag carrier Saudi Arabian Airlinessigned an agreement on 27 April with Brazilian aircraft manufacturer Embraerto buy 15 aircraft. The deal, worth about $400 million, covers 15 Embraer 170 jets and expands the airline's fleet from 139 planes to 154. Delivery of the first 66-seater planes is scheduled for December.

Saudi Arabian will use the new aircraft to add new services on existing regional and local flights and develop mini-hubs at Hail in the north and Abha in the south. Under the agreement, Embraer will also set up a maintenance centre in the kingdom and provide a flight simulator and support equipment for training and maintenance. Other bidders for the contract are understood to have included Canada's Bombardier,Toulouse-based ATR and a joint venture of Europe's EADS and Italy's Finmeccanica.

The order is the first from Saudi Arabian in 10 years and comes amid plans to privatise the airline by 2006. The kingdom is planning to award a licence to a new private airline by the end of the year to add competition to the state-owned operator (MEED 20:6:04).

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