Photo: flyadeal
The Saudi Arabian low-fare carrier closed 2025 as the number one airline for punctuality across the Middle East and Africa, with a 33% increase in passengers.
Flyadeal marked 2025 as a landmark year, achieving a series of record-breaking milestones. Strong on-time performance and rising passenger demand helped the airline surpass the 10-million passenger mark, while growth was further supported by the opening of a new base in Madinah and a 66% expansion of its route network. The carrier also strengthened its international footprint with its debut services to South Asia, having added Pakistan to its network.
To support its expansion, flyadeal also opened a new Operations Control Centre in Jeddah, which is four times bigger than the previous facility. It also became the first Saudi carrier to wet-lease aircraft into and out of the Kingdom, and began training Saudi cabin crew as accredited tour guides.
For flyadeal CEO Steven Greenway, the standout achievement was the airline’s exceptional on-time performance, which averaged close to 90% over the past 12 months. This was further underscored in June 2025, when the airline was also recognised as the world’s most punctual airline across both the low-cost and full-service category, recording an operational performance of 91.77% based on flights arriving within 15 minutes of scheduled arrival.
Photo: flyadeal
Describing 2025 as an “incredible year for flyadeal”, Greenway said: “We showed agility, ability and action – quick to respond to challenges and embrace opportunities. With a big international push opening new markets such as Pakistan and Syria, growing operations in Egypt and expanding our global reach for inbound pilgrim travel, we were able to scale up and act fast to build a healthy network of domestic and international routes during the peak summer season and throughout the year.”
Flyadeal operated 159 routes (+66% on 2024) from its three bases – Riyadh, Jeddah and Damman – in 2025, using its fleet of 44 Airbus A320 aircraft.
Last year also saw the carrier commit to investing in a dedicated fleet of brand-new widebody aircraft with an order for 10 Airbus A330s. The move underpins flyadeal’s expansion into the long-haul, low-cost market.
“With the backing of our parent Saudi Group. flyadeal continued to push the boundaries, evolving into new areas while maintaining focus on keeping unit costs as slow as possible to benefit consumers with lower fares,” concluded Abdulrahman Ajabnoor, flyadeal CFO.
