The board of Kuwait-based budget airline Jazeera Airways approved a $3.4 billion deal to buy 28 narrow-body aircraft from Airbus to expand its fleet across markets in the Middle East parts of Europe.

Commenting on his airline’s decision to expand the fleet with additional Airbus jets, Jazeera Airways Chairman Marwan Boodai said in November: “Jazeera Airways is pleased to extend its long-term relationship with Airbus further with this significant new order. We will effectively double our current fleet size to 35 aircraft by 2026…We have exciting expansion plans ahead, which will further boost our contribution to the Kuwait economy and, in particular, the travel sector.”

Out of the 28 Airbus aircraft ordered, 20 will be the A320neo and the rest – stretched A321neos. Before this, Jazeera Airways has been operating the A320 size only.

Rohit Ramachandran, CEO of Jazeera Airways, said that the new aircraft will offer the operator “great flexibility to extend our network to medium and longer-haul destinations from Kuwait.”