- Continued network expansion in 2019 and delivery of new A320neo aircraft
Kuwait, April 15, 2019: Jazeera Airways Shareholders today approved the Board of Directors’ recommendation to distribute cash dividend of KD7 million for the year ended December 31, 2018. The Company held its Annual General Meeting (AGM) today at the its headquarters in Jazeera City, Kuwait.
With the 2018 dividend, the Company has returned a total of KD84 million in cash to shareholders in the last five years for the financial years from 2013 to 2018.
Speaking at the AGM, Chairman Marwan Boodai said: “2018 was a transformational year for Jazeera Airways and its business as we continued to deliver on our strategy by expanding and diversifying our product and service offer, and grasping new opportunities that enable us to maintain our track-record performance of positive earnings year after year.”
In 2018, Jazeera Airways inaugurated its dedicated Jazeera Terminal (T5), bringing a faster travel experience to customers, from parking to check-in to boarding through the dedicated gates at Kuwait International Airport.
The Company also took delivery of the first A320neo to be delivered and operated in the Middle East, and the first of four A320neo aircraft on order. The introduction of the fuel-saving and new noise-reduction engine aircraft to the growing fleet supports the Company’s continued network expansion to cover destinations that increase its flying radius from Kuwait up to 6.5 hours. In 2019, the airline will commence flights to London Gatwick with the A320neo.
Jazeera Airways also continued to expand its network in the Indian Subcontinent, launching four new routes to Kochi, Ahmedabad, Mumbai and New Delhi to serve the one million Indian nationals living in Kuwait. The airline also started serving Tbilissi, Georgia and Medinah, KSA.
Boodai added: “With these new routes, Jazeera Airway took the opportunity to increase frequency to existing key destinations, connecting passengers from India to destinations such as Saudi Arabia and other Gulf countries, particularly Qatar. Today, not only is Jazeera carrying passengers point to point to and from Kuwait but it is expanding its network traffic, routing passengers through the Kuwait hub to their ultimate destinations. The contribution of connecting traffic has increased from 3% in 2017 to 18% by the end of 2018.”
These expansions were complemented by supporting services that increased and created new ancillary sources of revenue, increasing revenue from ancillary services by 40.8% from 2017.
2018 Financial and Operational Highlights:
Jazeera Airways ended the year 2018 with zero debt. The Company reported a record growth of 46.4% in passengers and a 45.5% growth in operating revenue in comparison to 2017. The Company’s adjusted net profit stood at KD8.7 million in 2018 while its reported net profit came in at KD6.7 million taking into account the impact of the irregular disruptions that took place during the year and the contribution of the terminal which opened in May 2018 but did not have any impact on the comparable year.
• Operating revenue: KD82.4 million, up 45.5% from 2017
• Adjusted operating profit: KD8.8 million, up 13.9% from 2017
• Adjusted net profit: KD8.7 million, up 5.7% from 2017 (Adjusted 2018 operating and net profit account for KD2.0 million one-offs related to both irregular disruption events in 2018 and operating losses related to facilities operations – reported net profit for 2018 was KD6.7 million)
• Passengers: 2.0 million up 46.4% from 2017
• Fleet utilization: 13.6 hours, up 24.7% from 2017
• Load factor: 75.2%, up from 73.9% 2017
2019 Outlook
Boodai said: “Our objective for 2019 is to continue expanding our network, and subsequently tap into new segments of customers. We plan to introduce routes to new destinations in Europe, India, Pakistan, Bangladesh and the Gulf. The expansion will be supported with the delivery of three new A320neo aircraft, as part of a plan to increase our fleet to over 20 aircraft by 2022.”