US plane maker Boeing has suffered a fresh setback after a Saudi budget airline chose not to go through with a $5.9bn (£4.7bn) order for 30 of its 737 MAX aircraft. The decision by flyadeal comes after two 737 MAXs were involved in deadly crashes in 2018 and earlier this year.
A total of 346 people were killed in the Lion Air disaster in Indonesia last October and the Ethiopian Airlines tragedy near Addis Ababa in March, which led to all such aircraft being grounded and billions of dollars being wiped off the company's value.
Flyadeal has now had a rethink about the provisional Boeing order and decided instead to take delivery of a fleet of 30 rival Airbus A320neo jets.
The Saudi airline said: "This order will result in flyadeal operating an all-Airbus A320 fleet in the future."
lyadeal, which has operated leased A320 jets since launching in September 2017, will take delivery of the new Airbus aircraft from 2021.
The announcement comes just weeks after International Airlines Group - the owner of British Airways - signed a letter of intent to order 200 Boeing 737 MAX jets.
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