Author Federico Mackija, Hadeel Al Sayegh and Andres Gonzalez
Dubai/London (Reuters) – Etihad Airways and Flynas are preparing for a list of stock markets this year, marking the first IPO bay carriers in almost two decades, and Ethihad sounded investors next week before potential sales about A 20% share, They said two sources.
Etihad looks at the list in this quarter, people who know about her plans, and one of them said he would aim for local and international investors.
This could raise about one billion dollars in what would be the first IPO airplane in the Bay of Kuwaita Jazeera Airways in 2008, said one of two people and a third source.
Budget carrier Saudi Arabia Flynas, assisted Kingdom (Tywul 🙂 Holding, a billionaire investment company Prince Alwaleed bin Talal, could also list this year, said another person familiar with his plans.
Qatar Airways, one of the biggest carriers in the region, could go public before it came out for a decade.
Four people refused to be identified because the plans are confidential.
Etihad and his owner, Abu Dhabi’s sovereign fund for the ADQ wealth, refused to comment. Flynas did not answer the commentary request.
Executive director Kingdom Holding said on Wednesday Saudi State Emiter of Al Arabiya TV that the company was in the last phase of obtaining the approval from the Saudi market regulator on the list in Riyadh.
Flynas is worth at least two billion dollars, Prince Alwaleed posted on X earlier this month.
Dubai Emirates are also previously labeled as a potential IPO candidate. His President and CEO of Sheikh Ahmed bin Saeed Al Maktoum told reporters last year that IPO is not his decision to make and that it will be the decision of the Government in Dubai and that he will continue if he requests it.
TOURISM
Potential lists are partly guided by local self -government efforts to diversify their economies away from oil, betting on sectors such as tourism as a revival of travel after pandemic.
IPO -I would allow investors to access the market with significant growth potential, said Air Force John Strickland, citing the capacity of HUB due to the geographical position between Europe and Asia, plus attractions of Dubai as a tourist destination.
Dubai is already the main point of stopping for flights long after he overtook Heathrow as the most prominent international airport ten years ago.
Etihad has gone through years of restructuring and management management after investing billions of dollars to compete more effectively with peers by buying minority roles in other carriers.
The launch of a new term with several billion dollars at the Zayed Abu Dabi 2023 International Airport has tripled the annual HUB capacity to 45 million passengers and could help the airline growth plans.
Etihad said he was working to expand their destination to more than 125 airport by 2030 with more than 90 today and increases its fleet under the plan to strengthen the role of the UAE capital as a traveling center connecting Asia and Europe.
“The markets are colorful, estimates (for regional companies) are high,” said Mohamed Ali Yasin, founder and executive director of the Oracle investment company (NYSE 🙂 Financial Counseling and Investment.
In Saudi Arabia, where tourism is the main pillar of the 2030 economic overhaul, almost 20-year-old Flynas plans to expand its fleet to more than 160 aircraft by 2030 with over 60.
Despite the local competition such as the Flyadeal Lowbuide Players, Flynas has all the credentials to continue to grow, Strickland said, citing the size and potential of the Saudi market supported by a young, growing population.
The Middle East, which had a 9.4% share of the global air passenger market in 2023 – calculated as a revenue per kilometer – had an 8.7% increase in demand in November 2024. Compared to the same month earlier, IATA states.
Other regions still made up larger shares of the entire market, and Asia Pacific is at the top of the list with a 31.7% share, according to data.
A bright spot?
The bay made up a vast majority of 54 IPO in the Middle East and North Africa in 2024, which raised $ 12.2 billion, which is 12% compared to the year earlier, according to LSEG data.
Gulf lists could become a bright place for investors in the air sector that faced problems in other regions, including Europe, where airlines, such as Lufthans, were struggling with delays in aircraft delivery, engine problems, labor disorders and cost increasing.
“Going out of a covid, some of the bay carriers were among the first to really start recovering and restarting the market,” Strickland said.
Europe is “related to regulation, focusing on climate change, even changes, of course, in the political landscape.”
