In the Bloomberg interview at the DAS, Tony Douglas said the narrow body order would "certainly" be announced by the end of the year (2023). Perhaps they've gone cold on Boeing or they're having trouble wringing delivery slots out of Airbus despite the deep pockets.
Ah yes, the eagerly anticipated order of narrow-body jets continues to linger, hinting at potential obstacles posed by industry limitations has undoubtedly resulted in the cold truth of reality meeting expectations. Regardless of one's financial strength, it's impossible to bypass the lengthy queue of an aircraft order backlog that stretches into the thousands. One might be able to get some MAX’s quicker, but do you really want the hassle of that junk?
Lastly, the entire scenario seemingly resembles a sociological study more than anything else. The conspicuous absence of any details regarding compensation or benefits suggests that they are merely just dipping their toes into the water to determine if they could sustain operations at industry-standard rates - which they claim tens of thousands have indicated they would, and importantly without knowing any details about the
renumeration, other than “8 days off in your hub of Riyadh”.