Low-cost carrier Flynas to offload 30% on Saudi bourse

Saudi low-cost carrier Flynas has received the market regulator’s approval to offload nearly a third of its shares on the local stock exchange in the latest of a series of bourse flotations.

The airline, partly owned by billionaire Prince Alwaleed Bin Talal, will sell 51.3 million shares or 30 percent of its stock in an initial public offering (IPO) on the Saudi bourse, the Capital Market Authority (CMA) said in a statement.

The CMA’s approval is valid for six months and will be deemed cancelled if the offering and listing of the shares are not completed within this period, the statement said.

In January Talal Al Maiman, CEO of Kingdom Holding, said that the company had submitted a listing application. 

Flynas chief executive Bander Al Mohanna confirmed last year that the airline had hired Goldman Sachs Group, Morgan Stanley and Saudi Fransi Capital for the listing.

Last month Flynas secured a sharia-compliant loan of SAR495 million ($132 million) to acquire three Airbus A320neo aircraft, the airline said in a statement.

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In financial statements released at the Airline Economics conference in Riyadh in April 2024, Flynas reported an annual revenue of SAR6.3 billion ($1.7 billion) for 2023, an increase of 32 percent. 

Flynas operates 1,500 flights a week with an all-Airbus fleet, connecting more than 70 domestic and international destinations, according to its website. 

Kingdom Holding has a 37 percent share in Flynas, formerly known as Nas Air. Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund holds a 17 percent stake.