Jazeera Airways' Q3 profit soars on surging travel demand

Kuwaiti airline launched six new routes during the quarter, catering to an increase in demand from different market segments

Jazeera Airways' net profit in the July-September period surged to nearly $43.2 million. Photo: Jazeera Airways

Kuwait-based Jazeera Airways' third-quarter net profit jumped 14 per cent on a year-on-year basis as it carried more passengers and emerged from coronavirus-induced travel disruptions.

The company’s net profit in the July-September period surged to nearly 13.4 million Kuwaiti dinars ($43.2m).

Its revenue during the period increased 99.3 per cent to 63.2m dinars, the company said in a statement on Monday. Operating profit stood at 16.1m dinars, 25.7 per cent more than the third quarter of 2021.

“Appetite for travel increased significantly during the peak summer season, exceeding the numbers of passengers that flew with us during the record year of 2019,” Marwan Boodai, chairman of Jazeera Airways, said.

“We have restored our business post-pandemic and made strong growth as reflected in our financial performance. This has been stimulated operationally with the launch of 11 new routes since the beginning of the year and bringing an additional two aircraft into the fleet.”

Jazeera Airways' net profit in nine months to September 30 reached almost 20.8m dinars, from 71,000 dinars earned during the same period last year. Total revenue for the period reached 140.8m dinars, up 198 per cent from the comparable period last year.

The airline’s flight movement at Kuwait International Airport reached 20,161 flights during the January-September period making Jazeera the largest carrier operating at the airport.

The nine months earnings were supported by a strong increase in operations during the summer season with the airline carrying a record 1.1 million passengers in the third quarter and bringing the total number of passengers in the nine-month period to 2.6 million.

During the first nine months of 2019, the last full comparable period before the Covid-19, Jazeera carried 703,000 passengers and reported a net profit of 9.9m dinars.

Load factors reached an average of 80.1 per cent in the third quarter and 76.4 per cent for the nine-month period, the airline said.

Jazeera launched six new routes during the quarter, catering to an increase in demand from different market segments.

Four of these routes served the increasing demand for travel and tourism in Saudi Arabia — Abha, Hail, Qassim and Taif.

Jazeera has also joined the flight shuttle programme for the Fifa World Cup 2022 in Qatar, with flights between Kuwait and Hamad International Airport, Doha, for all matches between November 21 and December 18.

The airline said it “continues to move forward with its expansion plans with the delivery of two A320neo aircraft” in the third quarter as part of its order for 20 A320neos and 8 A321neos.

The delivery of these aircraft will increase the airline’s fleet to 35 in the coming years and support the airline’s network expansion in the Middle East, Asia and Europe.