Jazeera Airways Group announces 23% increase in YTD net profit

- Best YTD earnings in history

Nine Month net profit of KD14.1 million, up 23% from 2012

Freedom Town, Kuwait – Oct 28, 2013: In a webcast attended by local and international analysts, Jazeera Airways Group today announced a record year-to-date (YTD) net profit of KD14.1 million, making the first nine months of 2013 the airline’s most profitable nine-month period in history.

YTD 2013 Highlights ________

  • Revenue: KD50.8 million, up 4.4% from 2012
  • Operating profit: KD17.2 million, up 13.1% from 2012
  • Net profit: KD14.1 million, up 23% from 2012
  • Load factor: 70%, up 5.6% from 2012

*Percentages shown are calculated based on the absolute results, not on the displayed rounded figures.

H1 2013 Balance Sheet ________

  • Hard assets of KD152 million
  • Cash reserves of KD50 million, exceeding share capital
  • Equity improved by KD35 million since Q3 2012

Jazeera Airways Group Chairman, Marwan Boodai, said, “Despite the political unrest in some parts of our network for the last three quarters and the holy month of Ramadan impacting this year’s summer travel trends, we were still able to carry more passengers than last year and at higher average yields resulting in increases in most of our financial KPIs. Our YTD net profit was up 23%, our YTD revenue was up 4.4%, our YTD operating profit was up 13.1%, and our YTD flown passengers figure was up 1.2%”.

Jazeera Airways operated the first three quarters of 2013 with an average load factor of 70% and with a 4.2% increase in average yield compared to the first three quarters of 2012.

Year-to-date business highlights

– Jazeera Airways Group secured funding for the three remaining aircraft on an order of 15 A320s. The structured loan was led by Kuwait’s NBK and DVB Bank SE. As a result of the loan, the company has secured its financial commitments for the next two years.

– Jazeera Airways Group received a brand new Airbus A320 from the manufacturer. To date, Jazeera Airways Group has taken delivery of 13 Airbus A320s since 2005, as part of an order for 15 aircraft of the same type. The remaining two aircraft of the order are scheduled to be delivered this month and in May of 2014.

– Kuwait Stock Exchange (KSE) inducted Jazeera Airways into the ‘Kuwait 15 index KSX15’ – an index of the 15 top performers on the KSE. The KSX15 is defined by the KSE as their “flagship index … designed to be a bellwether indicator of the Kuwaiti economy and to track the performance of the Kuwait stock market”.

Established in 2005, Jazeera Airways Group is a Kuwait Stock Exchange-listed company with a fleet of 13 fully-owned Airbus A320s, distributed between its airline business, Jazeera Airways (seven aircraft), and its fully-owned leasing-arm Sahaab Aircraft Leasing (six aircraft).

Jazeera Airways is based in Kuwait and operates a network comprising high-demand business, leisure, family, and weekend destinations such as Dubai, Bahrain, Beirut, Alexandria, Amman, Istanbul, Sharm El Sheikh, Assiut, Luxor, Mashhad, Sohag, Jeddah, Riyadh, Cairo and Al Najaf.