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AVIATION-
Flynas has placed a “landmark” order with Airbus for 30 wide-body A330neo and 130 narrow-body A320 aircraft, doubling the low-cost airline’s total Airbus orders to 280, it said in a statement on Thursday. A breakdown of the agreement, which was signed during London’s Farnborough Airshow, sees Flynas purchasing 75 A320neo family aircraft and 15 A330-900, according to a statement by Airbus. Flynas will have options for 55 A320neo aircraft and 15 A330s. Deliveries for the A330neos are scheduled to start in 2027, flynas said. No financial value was provided but independent aviation consultancy estimates the value of the order at USD 5.7 bn, according to Reuters.
Remember: Flynas placed a top-up order with Airbus last year for 30 A320neos, bringing its 2016 purchase with the company to a total of 120 aircraft.
Following in the footsteps of Saudia? National carrier Saudia is set to receive the first deliveries from its landmark USD 19 bn Airbus order in 2026, when it will receive 15-16 aircraft out of the 105 it ordered, Saudia Director General Ibrahim Al Omar said.
INFRASTRUCTURE-
It’s a wrap for Neom’s underground parking and light rail systems: Neom has completed the construction of its underground parking and light rail systems two weeks ahead of schedule, according to a statement from the Chinese construction machinery company involved in the project XCMG Machinery.
REFRESHER- Neom embarked on a drive earlier this year to assure contractors and bankers that the buildout of the city was proceeding on schedule in the wake of reports that the government was scaling back the project. Neom also recently came off the road in China with officials looking to rally interest from Hong Kong, Beijing, and Shanghai as it seeks to diversify its funding sources away from PIF, which has poured most of the funding into the project in the form of equity.
STARTUP WATCH-
Gov’t kicks off second phase of Sedrah accelerator in the US: Deputy Environment Minister Mansour Al Mushaiti inaugurated the second phase of the ministry’s Sedrah Business Acceleration Program in California’s Silicon Valley, state news agency SPA reported. The accelerator, launched earlier this year, provides mentoring for startups operating in the environmental sector in Riyadh, London, and Silicon Valley.
ICT-
MIS lands a data center services contract: IT solutions firm Al Moammar Information Systems (MIS) has signed a ten-year contract with Microsoft Arabia and Saudi Data Center Fund 1 to provide colocation and data center services for one of the fund’s centers, according to a disclosure to Tadawul. The contract can be extended for up to another 10 years, and Microsoft can opt to increase the reserved capacity by up to 300%. The contract is valued at over 50% of MIS’s 2023 revenue, which amounts to SAR 729.9 mn, according to our math.
Remember: MIS is the exclusive leasing agent and manager for the six data centers owned by the Saudi Data Center Fund 1.
