Kuwait-based Jazeera Airways aims to receive up to $2 billion in funding from commercial banks to fund 70% of a deal it has with Airbus to purchase 28 Airbus A320neo family narrow-body passenger aircraft, the carrier’s chairman told Reuters.
The funding will be used by the carrier to move forward with its fleet upgrade plan under which Jazeera Airways aims to boost its current capacity with an additional 20 Airbus A320neos and eight A321neo planes. The aircraft are expected to support the airline’s network expansion across the Middle East, Asia, and Europe.
After the new planes have arrived, Jazeera plans to operate a monogamous Airbus fleet consisting of 35 jets.
The airline currently has 19 aircraft, including eight A320-200s and 11 A320neos, according to data from Planespotters.com.
Jazeera earnings reflect “significantly increased appetite” for travel
Meanwhile, Jazeera Airways has also officially announced a net profit of more than $67 million (KD20.77 million) for the first nine months of 2022. In a recent financial report, released on October 31, 2022, the airline said its total revenue for the period reached $454 million (KD140.8 million), reflecting a 197.9% increase compared to the same period in 2021.
“The nine months earnings were supported by a strong increase in operations during the summer season with the airline carrying a record number of passengers of 1.1 million passengers in the third quarter and bringing the total number of passengers in the nine months period to 2.6 million,” the airline said in the report.
According to the Jazeera Airways chairman Marwan Boodai, operating results during the peak summer season of 2022 reflected a “significantly increased appetite” for air travel.
“We have restored our business post-pandemic and made strong growth as reflected in our financial performance. This has been stimulated operationally with the launch of 11 new routes since the beginning of the year and bringing an additional two aircraft into the fleet,” Boodai said.
Looking at the load factor, Jazeera also managed to fill around 80.1% of available seating capacity during the third quarter of the year and around 76.4% during the nine-month period.