Saudi Arabia appears ready to fully commit to the low-fare air transport market as Saudia subsidiary Flyadeal prepares to order 50 narrowbody aircraft to support a major expansion in and around the kingdom.

“We are in the evaluation phase and hope to make a decision by the middle of the year,” Flyadeal CEO Con Korfiatis told AIN at the recent Aviation Festival in Singapore, referring to proposals from Boeing and Airbus to supply 737 Max jets or A320neos, respectively. “It is a genuine competition from the manufacturers, and we haven’t launched our airline with a new-generation aircraft as we are saving that for our long-term fleet decision.”

Now flying five Airbus A320s leased from Dubai Aerospace Enterprise (DAE), Flyadeal launched commercial services in September with a route between Riyadh and Jeddah. It expects to receive three more A320s this this year.

Flyadeal currently flies to six domestic destinations in Saudi Arabia, and plans call for the airline to serve its first international destination by the second half of this year, said Korfiatis.

“We will start with destinations that are about four hours away, which is plenty,” he noted, adding that fleet planners continue to study several potential markets.

Formed as part of a Saudia Group transformation strategy aimed at elevating the company into a world-class organization by 2020, Flyadeal positions itself as a pure low-cost airline, as opposed to what Korfiatis characterized as hybrid LCCs in the Middle East such as FlyDubai.

The Australian, who has served in executive roles at Jetstar and Indonesia’s Citilink, cited consistent “above average” load factors at Flyadeal as evidence of the region’s appetite for low-cost flying.