flyadeal

Is flyadeal safe?

Yes. flyadeal, the low-cost airline of the Saudia Group, has flown since 2017 without a fatal accident or the loss of an aircraft, and most of its fleet is new A320neos. We score it 82, level with its rival flynas and above its parent Saudia (76). The main thing that holds it back is not the airline but its airports: in October 2026 Houthi missiles and drones hit Riyadh, one of its two main bases, and the airport closed for more than a week.

flyadeal's accident record

The Aviation Safety Network database has a single entry for flyadeal. On 10 February 2021 an A320, HZ-FAB, was badly damaged while parked at Abha airport during a Houthi attack. ASN records the damage as substantial and the aircraft as repaired. Like the aircraft scores on this site, we do not count attacks of this kind (unlawful interference) in the accident record. They belong in the operating environment.

That leaves nine years with no crash and no hull lossHull lossAn accident in which an aircraft is destroyed or damaged beyond economic repair. People may or may not be hurt.More in the glossary. For an airline that has grown from a handful of jets to 45, that is a good record, but not a long one. We give it 90, more than Akasa Air and Breeze (88 each after four and five years) and less than flynas, which has had nearly two decades without a hull loss.

flyadeal holds its own operating certificate from GACA, Saudi Arabia's civil aviation authority, and flies under its own code, F3. Its record is therefore separate from Saudia's. The Saudia page counts eight write-offs since 2008, and none of them was a flyadeal flight.

Incidents: a quiet record, but thin data

We found no serious incident, fine or grounding for flyadeal. The ASN data has nothing apart from the 2021 attack. The French BEA, which lists foreign investigations it takes part in, has no flyadeal case, and news reports give no runway excursionsRunway excursionWhen an aircraft leaves the runway surface during take-off or landing, either off the end (an overrun) or off the side (a veer-off).More in the glossary, tail strikesTail strikeWhen the tail of an aircraft touches the runway during take-off or landing, usually because the nose was raised too far or too early.More in the glossary or evacuations.

That is good news, but we treat it with care. Saudi Arabia's National Transport Safety Center investigates accidents and serious incidents and publishes far fewer reports than European or American boards. An incident that would be public in the UK could pass without notice here. So we score incidents 78, higher than flynas (72), which had a runway excursion at Riyadh in 2024, but well short of the 90 that a well-documented clean record would earn.

What does flyadeal fly?

Only the Airbus A320 family. In February 2026 flyadeal took its 34th A320neo, which took the fleet to 45 jets, and it aims for 50. About three quarters of the fleet is therefore new-generation, against more than 90% at flynas. The other jets are A320ceos, the previous version of the same aircraft, which have the same fly-by-wireFly-by-wireA flight control system in which the pilot's inputs go to computers, which then move the control surfaces. Many such systems also stop unsafe manoeuvres.More in the glossary cockpit and are still young. flyadeal does not publish an average age. We score the fleet 86 on the share of A320neos.

A single aircraft family helps an airline of this size: pilots, engineers and spare parts all serve one type.

Oversight

Saudi Arabia holds Category 1FAA IASAThe US FAA's check of whether a country's aviation regulator meets ICAO standards. Category 1 means it does; Category 2 means it does not.More in the glossary in the FAA's IASA assessment. No Saudi airline is on the EU Air Safety ListEU Air Safety ListThe European Commission's list of airlines banned or restricted from flying in EU airspace because they do not meet international safety standards.More in the glossary. flyadeal is an IATA member, so it has passed the IATA Operational Safety AuditIOSAThe IATA Operational Safety Audit, an international audit of an airline's safety management and operations. Every IATA member must pass it.More in the glossary (IOSA), which every member must pass every two years. We score oversight 84, the same as Saudia and flynas. GACA meets international standards, but it publishes less than EASA or the FAA.

The 2026 attacks on Saudi airports

This is the weakest factor and the one most likely to affect a trip. Iranian missiles and drones have reached Saudi Arabia since March 2026, and the Houthis in Yemen began to attack Saudi cities again in July. EASA's bulletin for Saudi airspace, revised on 9 October, tells European airlines not to fly at any height over part of the Jeddah flight region. It also says the attacks now focus more on aviation infrastructure, which raises the risk to aircraft on the ground and during take-off and landing.

The attacks then reached airports. On the evening of 5 October, attacks hit Jazan and Najran near the Yemen border, both on the flyadeal network; GACA reported three minor injuries and material damage. Riyadh was hit hardest. On 6 and 7 October strikes on Riyadh and Abha airports killed three people. On 8 October two attacks on King Khalid International Airport hit airport buildings and a Saudia aircraft on the ground and killed three more, among them a Saudia captain, according to GACA. That day flyadeal cancelled 20 of its 54 departures from Riyadh, Cirium data showed. On 10 October a further strike killed at least 12 people and injured 309, and the airport shut; one of the injured died later, which raised the toll to 13. On 11 October a missile hit Terminal 4 at Riyadh and started a fire, killing one person and injuring 11, and that evening GACA confirmed an attack on King Fahd International Airport in Dammam, also on the flyadeal network, without giving casualty figures. Riyadh reopened on 18 October under a GACA notice that requires prior permission for every flight, and on 21 October the AP saw only limited traffic, flown by Saudia and flynas. That evening a second attack on the Dammam airport killed one resident and injured eight, GACA said, and on 22 October Canada added Dammam's airport to Riyadh's in its advice against all travel. No attack on Jeddah has been confirmed.

None of this happened to a flyadeal aircraft in the air, so none of it counts in the accident record. But it is why the environment scores 45, the same as Saudia and flynas, which fly from the same airports. Our Saudi Arabia travel page has the current advisories.

Flying flyadeal: what to do

• Confirm your flight on the day you travel, especially to or from Riyadh and Abha. Airports have closed for days after attacks, and airlines cancel at short notice.
• Leave extra time in the plan. If your trip connects to an international flight, a gap of several hours, or a night, gives you a margin if Riyadh closes again.
• Follow GACA and flyadeal announcements, not social media posts, for news on closures. Foreign airlines such as Lufthansa and Air France have cancelled Riyadh flights until mid-November, so a rebooking may not be easy.

How we scored it

Nine years without a crash or hull lossHull lossAn accident in which an aircraft is destroyed or damaged beyond economic repair. People may or may not be hurt.More in the glossary (accident record 90) and a young, single-family Airbus fleet (86) carry the score, with FAA Category 1FAA IASAThe US FAA's check of whether a country's aviation regulator meets ICAO standards. Category 1 means it does; Category 2 means it does not.More in the glossary oversight and IOSAIOSAThe IATA Operational Safety Audit, an international audit of an airline's safety management and operations. Every IATA member must pass it.More in the glossary at 84. Incidents score 78 because we found none but Saudi reporting is thin. The 2026 attacks on Riyadh and Abha pull the environment down to 45. Overall 82.