JAZEERA Airways Group, parent company of Jazeera Airways and Sahaab Aircraft Leasing, has revised the order it placed for Airbus A320s in 2007 from 40 aircraft to 15.
Chairman Marwan Boodai said: “The decision to resize our fleet is the right decision for Jazeera Airways at the time being, given the overcapacity we’ve seen in the market in 2009 and 2010 when we saw close to half of the seats offered by our peers on the routes we operated were being flown empty. However, we might revisit this decision in the future as Airbus introduces new A320 models to the market.
“The desicion to adjust the short-term fleet size was part of an internal business enhancement plan called the ‘Turn-Around Plan’ that began rolling out in May 2010. Adjusting the fleet size was one of the objectives of the plan. Since then, our financial performance has beaten analyst expectations for every quarter.”
The carrier recently announced that it is to receive four brand new Airbus A320s between 2012 and the end of 2014 as part of its fleet modernisation programme.
It took delivery of one A320 in January 2010 as part of this order.
Boodai said: “Having one of the Middle East’s youngest fleets is a core component of our customer offering. Our target is to phase out aircraft that have more than six years of operation and we have already begun phasing out aircraft as part of this programme.”
Jazeera Airways reported a third quarter (Q3) net profit of KD4.4 million ($16 million), the airline’s best Q3 on record, and a fourth quarter (Q4) net profit of KD2 million ($7.2 million), making the second half of 2010 the airline’s best second half since 2008.
Boodai said: “As we look forward to announcing a good first quarter 2011, we thank our most valued partner Airbus for its continued support for the airline since 2005 and look forward to its continued support for years to come.”
Established in 2005, Jazeera Airways Group is a Kuwait Stock Exchange-listed company with more than 12,000 shareholders. The company has 11 fully-owned Airbus A320s in operation, distributed between its airline business, Jazeera Airways (six aircraft), and its fully-owned leasing business, Sahaab Aircraft Leasing (five aircraft). Sahaab has assets placed with Virgin America, Sri Lanka Airlines and Jazeera Airways.
In 2010 the airline carried 1.3 million passengers in total, or 15 per cent of Kuwait International Airport passengers, on 14,156 flights across its network.