Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund (PIF) is near a deal to order Boeing industrial jets for the fleet of a latest national airline, The Wall Street Journal reported on Saturday, citing people aware of the matter.
Photo taken on March 13, 2019 shows the Boeing logo at its headquarters in downtown Chicago.
Xinhua/Joel Lerner via Getty Images
The aircraft order is valued at $35 billion, the report said, adding that the deal might be announced as soon as Sunday during an official launch of the national airline.
The deal includes wide-body jets which are sometimes used for long international flights, the report added.
In October, Saudi Arabia was in advanced negotiations to order almost 40 A350 jets from Airbus, with Boeing also lobbying for a slice of the dominion’s transportation expansion, industry sources had told Reuters.
The top of state-owned Saudi Arabian Airlines (Saudia) had then told Reuters that it was in talks with Boeing and Airbus on orders each for itself and a planned latest carrier, RIA.
Boeing declined to comment and the Saudi PIF didn’t immediately reply to a request from Reuters for comment on the report.
The deal is a component of a rapid expansion by the country under a technique to rework the dominion right into a transport hub and promote tourism.
