Jazeera Airways today announced its earnings for the third quarter (Q3) of 2020, which continues to be affected by restrictions imposed on travel due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
Commercial flights at Kuwait International Airport resumed on August 1, 2020 with limited capacity and a suspension of flights from 34 countries. This follows a five-month suspension of all commercial flights between March 13 to July 31. All incoming passengers are mandated to quarantine for 14 days.
“With restrictions affecting demand for travel and tourism, Jazeera Airways relocated its efforts to serve “Covid-safe” tourist destinations such as Turkey and Dubai, while also focusing on charter and transit flights that connect cities in Asia to others in the Middle East, which have eased restrictions earlier. We’ve seen demand from large numbers of expatriates who are returning home or are now able to return to their place of work,” said Jazeera Airways Chairman, Marwan Boodai.
“The sector remains under pressure worldwide, with the Middle East particularly affected. The situation is expected to continue until Q2 2021 with the newly imposed curfews in Europe. Financially, Jazeera maintains its strict cost control measures to safeguard its financial position and liquidity.”
The Company ended the period with a cash balance of KD23.3 million.
Operating revenue for 9M 2020 was KD32.8 million and the net loss was KD15.5 million. Number of passengers flown was 605,877 which include passengers of scheduled commercial flights from January 1 to March 12, as well as passengers of expatriation flights during the suspension period.
9M 2020 Financial and Operational Highlights:
- Operating revenue: KD32.8 million
- Operating loss: KD14.7 million
- Net loss: KD15.5 million
- Passengers: 605.9 thousand
- Load factor: 66.0%
Q3 2020 Financial and Operational Highlights:
- Operating revenue: KD6.1 million
- Operating loss: KD6.5 million
- Net loss: KD5.6 million
- Passengers: 65.6 thousand
- Load factor: 51.8%
Jazeera Airways Chief Executive Officer, Rohit Ramachandran, added: “Commercially, our team is doing a phenomenal job at securing charter flights requests. Jazeera has the advantage of a flexible model and a network that includes destinations that are in demand and underserved, giving us a unique position to serve large numbers of passengers who need to travel during flights suspensions.
“We’ve also launched new service to Trabzon, Turkey early in August, serving a need for tourism to destinations deemed safe from the pandemic. There is always demand for travel, and this is what we aimed to focus on. We also announced new services to Dhaka, Bangladesh and Muscat, Oman. Flights to Dhaka will serve outbound customers from Kuwait as well as connect to other cities in the Middle East.”
Jazeera launched its first service to the touristic destination of Trabzon on August 3, with two return flights per week every Monday and Friday. The airline operates 11 flights per week to four airports in Turkey.
Boodai concluded: “We continue to support the efforts of the State of Kuwait as our Park & Fly facility remains a Covid-19 drive-through testing centre. We are also working closely with the Ministry of Health and our colleagues in the industry on solutions to enable more commercial flights while ensuring the safety of all incoming passengers.”