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Jazeera Airways reports USD 18m loss in Q3
Dhaka: Kuwait-based Jazeera Airways has posted USD 18 million loss for the third-quarter of the year leading to a total net loss of USD 50 million in 2020.
The airline attributes the ongoing losses to continuing restrictions at Kuwait International Airport caused by the coronavirus pandemic.
"The sector remains under pressure worldwide, with the Middle East particularly affected," said Marwan Boodai, Chairman, Jazeera Airways in a statement. "Financially, Jazeera maintains its strict cost control measures to safeguard its financial position and liquidity."
In the third quarter of 2020, Jazeera Airways flew 65,600 passengers and had an average load of 51.8 per cent. Net operating revenue across the three months was just under USD 20 million. So far this year, the airline has carried 605,900 passengers and had an average load factor of 66 per cent. In the nine months to October 31, net revenue at Jazeera Airways was USD 107 million.
Jazeera Airways ended the third quarter with a cash balance of USD 76 million. "The situation is expected to continue until Q2 2021 with the newly imposed curfews in Europe," said Boodai.
Jazeera Airways was hard hit by a five-month suspension of all commercial flights into Kuwait between March 13 to July 31. That helps explain why third-quarter loads and revenues were well under the 2020 monthly average. Those monthly average figures were bolstered by a strong start to 2020.
"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," added Boodai.
"We've seen demand from large numbers of expatriates who are returning home or are now able to return to their place of work."
Also working in Jazeera Airways' favour is its relatively small size. It operates just 13 aircraft, all A320s. That gives it a degree of agility and flexibility to respond to changing market forces that bigger airlines in the Gulf neighborhood don't have.
The airline is now concentrating on destinations across the Middle East, Europe, and South Asia. This includes launching new services to Dhaka, Oman, and Trabzon. As Marwan Boodai noted, the destinations may not be glamorous, but they are underserved, and these workhorse style routes comprise the airline's bread and butter.
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