KUWAIT: Jazeera Airways yesterday announced its financial results for the first quarter of 2016. The company registered a net profit of KD 4.0 million, an increase of 33.0% from the same quarter last year. Q1 2016 Highlights: Operating revenue: KD11.9 million, less 7.8% from Q1 2015; Net profit: KD4.0 million, up 33.0% from Q1 2015; Passengers: up 5.1% from Q1 2015; Load factor: up 2.4% from Q1 2015; On-time Performance: 90.9%.
Jazeera Airways Chairman, Marwan Boodai, said: “We’ve had a busy and exciting quarter as we lay the ground-work for the growth and expansion of our offering in 2016 and beyond. Soon we will start flights to Taif, our third destination in Saudi Arabia, with the first flight scheduled for June 7th. On the product development front, we kicked-off various construction programs for initiatives that fall under our ‘The Next Big Thing’ strategy, launched in February of this year, and we are on track to deliver starting with the dedicated business class at Kuwait International Airport and the remote check-in and long-term parking facility.
Both initiatives are in development today and are set to launch in the third quarter of this year. “Our outlook for the year remains unchanged and in line with our sector’s seasonality. While the excessive overcapacity on the sectors we operate poses a downward pressure on our yields, we expect to counter this pressure in the peak summer season and close the year with growth in our operational profits and our bottom line.”