- Network multiplies to 58destinations, fleet grows to 19 aircraft
- Robust growth, focus on aggressive cost control
- Board recommends cash dividend of 50 fils per share for second half of 2022
Jazeera Airways, continuing robust growth,announcedrecord net profits of KD20.1 million for the year 2022, an increase of 183.6% over 2021. Operating revenues for 2022 increased toKD182.116 million, up 126.5%, and operating profit increased by 148.4% to KD26.8 million.
With the resumption of operations at the Kuwait International Airport (KIA), the airline built on its quick return to profitability in the second half of 2021. During2022, Jazeera also exceeded 2019performance; which was the last comparable full year of unrestricted operations, by 30%. While overall passenger traffic at the airport dropped by 26% compared to 2019, Jazeera’s traffic grew by 19% during the same period.Passenger numbers increased by247.5% to an unprecedented 3.6 million, compared to the last year. Load factor increased by 10.2% to 77.01,which offset a decline in yield, the average fare paid per passenger, by 35.1% to KD47.96.
Marwan Boodai, Jazeera Airways Chairman, commented: “We are extremely proud to report record annual net profits for the year 2022, the highest in the history of Jazeera Airways. In the last year, high fuel prices added approximately KD9 million to our costs. Our financial performance despite this additional costburden testifies to the aggressive cost focus across the organization.The fact that we carried 3.6 million passengers in 2022, up from 2.4 million passengers in 2019, shows the strong acceptance of our business model and growing service by our customers.With our growingfleet, new upcoming routes and planned enhancements to our operations, 2023 is going to be another exciting year.”
In the last quarter of 2022, the airlinereported a modest net loss of KD0.7 million, compared to a profit of KD7 million in the same quarter of 2021. Operating revenue increased by 24.7% to KD41.3 million while operating profit decreased to KD0.9 million.
In Q4 2022, passenger numbers increased by 88% to 978.1 thousand passengersas load factor increased by 4.5% to 78.7% and average utilization of aircraft increase by 35.3% to 12.4 hours compared to the same quarter last year.
The Board of Directors recommendeddistributing a cash dividend of 50fils per share for the second half of 2022.This is in addition to the interim cash dividends of 30 fils per share, distributed forthe first half of 2022, bringing the total cash dividends distribution for full year 2022 to 80fils per share.