Budget carrier Flynas has confirmed plans for a listing on Tadawul this year, Asharq Business reported, citing remarks by CEO Bandar Al Mohanna at an industry gathering in Riyadh. Al Mohanna did not provide further details on the IPO; but there were reports advisors had been hired to line up an IPO in December 2023.

Where we left this story last time: Flynas tapped Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, and Saudi Fransi Capital for the IPO, Bloomberg said in December. The low-cost airline is thought to have been mulling an IPO since 2008. Its last push to list was in 2018, when it hired Morgan Stanley, Citigroup, and NBC Capital.

Whispers: Talk in December about an IPO came months after Bloomberg reported that the Public Investment Fund was involved in talks to buy an additional stake in Flynas from Prince Al Waleed Bin Talal’s Kingdom Holding. PIF has held since 2022 a 17% stake Kingdom Holding and sources suggested that the sale of direct shares in Flynas to PIF could delay the airline’s IPO plans.

FLYNAS’ BIG BUY-

Flynas is in the market for as many as 30 widebody aircraft to help boost operations, Bloomberg reports citing Al Mohanna as saying. It has issued a request for proposal to aircraft makers, Al Mohanna said, without providing details on the models that Flynas is looking to buy.

AND- Flynas has disclosed its earnings for the first time, reporting a 32% y-o-y growth in revenues in 2023 to SAR 6.3 bn, according to Al Mohanna. He did not provide figures on net income, but said that the airline has been profitable since 2015 with the exception of 2020, when covid-19 hit.

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