Jazeera Airways announces record net profit for Q3 2014

This is the company’s 17th quarter of straight profitability, of which 13 had record net earnings.

Q3 2014 Highlights ________
●    Operating Revenue: KD23.1 million, up 15.2% from Q3’13
●    Operating profit: KD9.1 million, up 17.8% from Q3’13
●    Net profit: KD8.1 million, up 22.6% from Q3’13
●    Hard assets of KD167 million
●    Equity improved by KD10 million since Q3 2013
●    Flown passengers up by 10.8%

9 Months 2014 Highlights ________
●    Operating Revenue: KD52.4 million, up 3.1% from 9 months 2013
●    Operating profit: KD15.5 million, down 9.9% from 9 months 2013
●    Net profit: KD13.0 million, down 7.9% from 9 months 2013

Jazeera Airways group chairman, Marwan Boodai, said: “Despite the continued political unrest in several areas of our network, the company managed to deliver the best earnings in the history of our nine-year old airline. That’s not to say that Jazeera Airways wasn’t impacted  by the rise of hot spots in our region. In fact, like many of our peers, some of the destination flights paths had to be rerouted to ensure the safety of our passengers and crews, and that resulted in more flying hours. However, thanks to our team’s dynamic capacity management and resource planning, we were able to absorb the impact in Q3 while registering 10.8% growth in flown passengers and a 22.6% growth in profitability."

In June, the airline launched four exclusive and dedicated gates, making it the only airline in Kuwait with gates that are exclusive to its customers. The dedicated gates, which are equipped with two state-of-the-art bridges, are strong product differentiators and enabled Jazeera Airways to offer a better, easier, and more streamlined boarding experience for customers. Today, Jazeera Airways passengers are the only passengers in Kuwait who have access to booking with their mobile phone, checking-in online or in person using the airport kiosk, boarding through exclusive gates and state-of-the-art bridges, and fly on brand new aircraft.

Jazeera Airways also upgraded its Istanbul route by operating to and from the city’s primary airport, Istanbul Atatürk Airport (IST), with five flights a week, instead of flying to Sabiha Gökçen International Airport (SAW), to which the airline has served since 2008. The move to Istanbul Atatürk Airport bolstered the route by offering customers better flight schedules to an airport that is at the heart of the city.

Analyst Saj Ahmad commented: “Jazeera Airways' Q3 performance underlines the strength of the low cost market in the GCC, despite the regional angst seen in Iraq, Syria and other places like Egypt and Libya.
 
“A sharp 15% year on year for revenue speaks to the robustness of demand which has translated into a 22.6% rise in profits.
 
“Jazeera Airways has leveraged not only its regional strength of its business to contribute to these excellent results, but the absence of domestic-originating competition from Kuwait Airways has seen passenger figures go up by almost 11%. While overall profitability for the year is still lower than a year ago, the increase in revenue points to pressure on pricing given the GCC regional heavyweights like flydubai and Air Arabia having an impact on fare flexibility and pushing down yields.
 
Ahmad added: “That said, Jazeera Airways appears to be financially stronger than this time last and it could still match profits this year of what it achieved in 2013 as the build up to the Christmas season begins.”