Oct. 31--Jazeera Airways will be the first Gulf carrier that will begin operation at the new airport after its inauguration earlier this week.
Jazeera Airways is all set to launch its first commercial flight today to Al Maktoum International Airport at Dubai World Central, or DWC. It will be the first Gulf carrier that will begin operation at the new airport after its inauguration earlier this week.
The airline's first flight, J9 174, will arrive at Al Maktoum International at 7:40pm, and the return flight, J9 175, will take off for Kuwait City at 8:30pm. The Kuwaiti carrier will operate two flights a week every Thursday and Saturday, while its operations to Dubai International will remain unchanged at an average of 25 flights per week.
"We're glad to be one of the first airlines and the first one in the region to extend our support to the newly-opened DWC which aims to be one of the leading airports in the world in the coming years in terms of both capacity and size," Marwan Boodai, chairman of the Jazeera Airways Group, said in a statement to Khaleej Times.
"We look forward to continue strengthening our partnership with Al Maktoum International Airport, Dubai International Airport, the Dubai Civil Aviation Authority and the Dubai Emirate as a whole."
Established in 2005, the Jazeera Airways Group is a Kuwait Stock Exchange-listed company with a fleet of 13 fully-owned A320s, distributed between its airline business -- Jazeera Airways (seven aircraft) -- and its fully-owned leasing-arm Sahaab Aircraft Leasing (six aircraft).
The IATA-member airline serves 19 popular destinations in the Middle East and Dubai is the leading destination for travellers from Kuwait, attracting high traffic of business, weekend and same-day business travellers and shoppers.
Boodai said Dubai is one of the best-performing routes for Jazeera Airways and the airline maintains its market share on the Kuwait-Dubai route. The airline's operational performance report, which was released on Wednesday, showed an increase in flown passengers from September of last year to the popular destinations of Dubai, Beirut, Amman and Riyadh. The Kuwait-Dubai route recorded 15 per cent growth in September compared to 13 per cent increase in same month last year.
"Our market share on the Kuwait-Dubai route was 15 per cent in August 2013, and we maintained that market share in September as well, while flown passengers on the route averaged a quarter of total flown passengers on the Jazeera Airways network during both months," he said.
The airline operated the first three quarters of 2013 with an average load factor of 70 per cent and with a 4.2 per cent increase in average yield compared to the first three quarters of 2012.
To a question about placing an aircraft order at forthcoming Dubai Airshow, he said the airline's immediate focus is to build up a solid network through present fleet.
"Having achieved a critical market size, our strategic focus is on growing the profitability of the company, constantly reviewing our product and services, and running perfect operations with our present fleet of 15 fully-owned Airbus A320."
"We will continue to focus on building a solid network with a modern fleet and a product that fits our customer base and expect to place an order for replace our current fleet in the next 18 months," he said.
On Monday, the airline announced that its nine-month profit surged 23 per cent to KD14.1 million while revenues rose 4.4 per cent to KD50.8 million. Operating profit climbed 13.1 per cent to KD17.2 million.
"Despite the political unrest in some parts of our network during the January-September 2013 period 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," Boodai said.
In reply to a question regarding Jazeera Airways' outlook for 2014, he said the airline has maintained a positive growth trend this year and will continue the same in future.
"We see continued growth in the travel sector in Kuwait and the Middle East, and in particular to a number of the cities we serve within our network. So far in 2013, we've witnessed a positive growth in number of passengers from last year, in-line with a growing Kuwaiti economy, making the first nine months of 2013 the airline's most profitable nine-month period in history with a growth of 23 per cent in net profit compared to last year," Boodai said.
Copyright 2013 - Khaleej Times, Dubai, United Arab Emirates
