SAUDI ARABIAN Airlines (Saudia) has finally agreed on the mix of aircraft to be acquired as part of a fleet-renewal programme involving the purchase up to 60 aircraft in a controversial deal with Boeing and McDonnell Douglas. One of the biggest civil-aircraft orders ever placed, the agreement could be completed in time to announce it at the Paris air show later this month.
The Saudi Arabian flag carrier is expected to announce a $6 billion order covering between 20 and 23 Boeing 777s, five 747-400s, 20 McDonnell Douglas MD-90s and 15 MD-11s, say US sources. A sizeable number of the MD-11s are expected to be destined for the Royal Saudi Air Force for use as in-flight refueling tankers.
It is unclear whether the mix of engines has yet been finalised. The IAE-built V2500 is the only engine offered on the MD-90, but General Electric, Pratt & Whitney and Rolls Royce have been competing for work on the wide-bodied aircraft.
After almost 18 months of wrangling since US President Bill Clinton announced in Washington that the Saudi Arabians had agreed to buy US aircraft and exclude Airbus from further bidding, the deal has been locked in limbo by the buyer's inability to finance the purchase.
It is believed now that a US-Saudi agreement to reschedule, for a second time, payments on US defence-equipment deliveries has allowed the two sides to agree a fleet mix, and move towards putting the final financial details of the package into place. The purchase is backed by a $6.2 billion credit guarantee from the US Export/Import Bank.
A decision in early 1994 to restructure the payments on some $30 billion of defence purchases had been the catalyst for the decision, allowing Clinton to announce the "buy-US" decision.
The apparent accord on military supplies has been eased by the fact that Saudi Arabian defence minister Prince Sultan is also Minister for Civil Aviation and chairman of Saudia.
The US airframe companies were not available for comment as Flight International went to press.
Source: Flight International