Jazeera Airways Group achieved a net profit of US$38 million last year, fuelled by a 36 percent increase in revenue levels.
The Kuwait-based company has been steered into continued profitability over the last six quarters, following the success of its current turnaround plan, implemented in the second quarter of 2010.
It has a fleet of 12 fully-owned Airbus A320s, evenly distributed between its airline business, Jazeera Airways, and its leasing-arm Sahaab Aircraft Leasing. Sahaab has assets placed with Virgin America, Sri Lanka Airlines, and Jazeera Airways.
“The year 2011 was a record-breaking year despite the continued over capacity, the impact of political unrest on travel within our network, and an increasing fuel cost,” stated Jazeera Airways Group chairman Marwan Boodai.
“Jazeera Airways today has a solid network, increasing load factors, reduced cost, and high aircraft utilisation, in addition the aircraft leasing arm has assets deployed across the globe, from the US to the Middle East to Asia,” he added.
Speaking to investors and analysts in a webcast held to announce FY2011 results, Boodai gave an overview of the company’s focus areas and milestones in 2011.
“We had three priorities in 2011. First, building on the momentum of record-breaking returns seen in Q3 and Q4 2010. Second, successfully mitigating the impact of the political unrest on the business. And third, capturing a strong market share on the Cairo-Kuwait route that was launched in May 2011,” he said.
The company’s outlook for 2012 continues to be positive in-line with a growing Kuwaiti economy, which continues to witness higher incomes despite international and regional economic pressures.
“The year 2011 witnessed varying external challenges, from multiple revolutions taking place in our network to fuel price hikes at both ends of the year, despite that 2011 was a record-breaking year for us,” said Boodai. “As the region returns to calm we look forward to the continuation of our strong performance.”