KUWAIT International airport’s announcement of a six per cent annual growth from last year was good news for George Cooper, CEO of Wataniya Airways, who is confident that the aviation industry in the region is only set to grow.
“If I were flying passengers from Europe to Asia, we would have been hit quite hard because those regions of the world are suffering the most. But in a country like Kuwait, in petro-dollar economies, 93 per cent of the people are employed by the government. I am sure that we will be quite well placed when the upturn begins later this year or next year,” said Cooper.
“We will take delivery of our fourth aircraft in October and are looking to expand to more cities in the Middle East. At the moment, we will continue to focus very strongly only on the Middle East markets,” he added. “Our growth plans are relatively modest – with four aircraft by the end of the year and another three in 2010 and then another three in 2011.”
Wataniya Airways, Kuwait’s only premium airline, currently flies to Bahrain, Dubai, Beirut and Cairo, and after the delivery of their third aircraft, the airline commenced operations to Amman in early June. At the same time it increased its Beirut and Cairo frequencies to a double daily.
The airline is also set to announce its routes to Jeddah, following regulatory government approvals, to be launched later this year.
The airline began operations in January 2009 and has since witnessed tremendous market response from its passengers.
“Our seat factors are climbing; forward bookings are looking very good. The feedback from the market is very good,” added Cooper.
“Our research reveals that Kuwaitis want to fly on a Kuwaiti airline. All the services that we are delivering to them now, such as leg room, comfortable seats, in-flight entertainment, have been chose by our passengers.”
Wataniya operates out of Sheikh Saad Terminal at the Kuwait International Airport and offers a high standard of onboard product, with 26 first class and 96 economy seats.
“One of our major challenges since we launched has been to make the market understand how we are different,” he said. “One of our key advantages is our size which brings consistency in our product service.”
By Shalu Chandran