Kuwait's Jazeera Airways today said second-quarter operating profit was 2.2 million Kuwaiti dinars (Dh26.7m), up 22.9 per cent from the same period last year, and a net profit of 2.3m dinars, reflecting a growth of 18.1 per cent from the same period last year.
The carrier said the results were driven by higher utilisation, improved network planning and a strong demand for travel during the quarter, which was airline’s best second quarter by flown passengers since 2009. Operating revenue hit 14m dinars, up 9.5 per cent from the second quarter last year. Load factor, which measures how much of an airline’s passenger carrying capacity is used, was 73.3 per cent, up 1.5 per cent from the same period in 2016.
“I am pleased to report to our shareholders that we are on track towards increasing shareholder value," said the Jazeera Airways chairman Marwan Boodai. "The company’s double-digit growth at both the operational level and the net level reflects this ongoing commitment.
But he said first-half results were pulled down by first-quarter’s earnings due to a host of external factors, most notably a slowing macroeconomy and the continued overcapacity on the airline's routes.
"But the turn-around we saw in the airline’s performance in Q2 is very encouraging and we are well-positioned to sustain this positive performance in the coming quarters on the back of a series of customer-focused initiatives that we’ve been announcing for the past year. Currently, our team is focused on digitising, maximising, and monetising Jazeera Airways even more.
This week the carrier launched its new brand, along with a re-engineered jazeeraairways.com.
"Our team is also working hard to further optimise our route network, to increase utilization of our fleet, to add new routes in the coming quarters, and to deliver the state-of-the-art dedicated terminal at Kuwait International Airport, which we promised to launch in the first quarter of next year,” MrBoodai added.
In the first half of this year Jazeera Airlways launched two new routes: Baku and Doha and said it improved yield per passenger by 4.7 per cent in the second quarter on the same period last year Q2’16. In addition, construction started of the airline’s dedicated terminal at Kuwait International Airport.
Jazeera Airways is a Boursa Kuwait-listed company with a fleet of Airbus A320 aircraft.
