Earlier this week, on August 11th, Kuwaiti budget airline Jazeera Airways reported on its earnings for the second quarter of the year. While the airline still faces an uphill battle in getting back to pre-pandemic levels, it was able to report a 137.7% increase in passengers from the previous quarter. Let’s look at how it achieved this.
“The operational performance shows positive signs that travel will recover at a fast pace after eased restrictions come to effect by mid of Q3 2021 and the number of vaccinated in Kuwait improve.” -Jazeera Airways
More passengers, more revenue
Jazeera Airways had a positive Q2 report, with higher load factors and higher revenues. In fact, the Kuwait-based budget airline was able to post an average load factor of 51.3%, made possible with the 104,000 passengers flown. Indeed, this represents a 137.7% increase in passenger traffic.
Despite the promising trend, the airline isn’t flying in clear skies just yet. For the second quarter of 2021, Jazeera registered a net loss of 6.5 million Kuwaiti Dinar – equivalent to $21.63 million. This, the airline explains, was “driven by lower yields as scheduled operations started to return in comparison to Q2 2020.” These lower yields were paired with higher costs due to increased operations and higher fuel prices.
.jpg){kind=link}
Made possible by easing restrictions
Unfortunately, much of Jazeera Airways’ success rests in the hands of the Kuwaiti government- which is a common trend around the world during this crisis. Indeed, we know there is travel demand present in almost all markets, but this demand is suppressed due to ongoing travel restrictions and border policies.
With this in mind, Kuwait’s government has moved to relax some of its restrictions amid a growing vaccination campaign. At the end of June, Arabian Business reported that the government agreed to allow direct flights to 12 destinations, including Bosnia-Herzegovina, the UK, Spain, the US, Holland, Italy, Austria, France, Kyrgyzstan, Germany, Greece, and Switzerland.
More importantly, however, Kuwaiti authorities moved to allow vaccinated non-citizen adults to enter the country for non-essential travel at the start of August.
.jpg){kind=link}
“With vaccinations rolling out at a fast pace in Kuwait and other countries within our network, travel restrictions have eased, and countries started opening their borders ahead of the summer season,” Jazeera Airways Chairman Marwan Boodai noted as part of his airline’s reporting.
Jazeera’s summer route highlights
Boodai asserts that appetite for travel has been evident, and Jazeera managed to capitalize on this by rolling out a series of new destinations by June to “cater to the significant demand for popular touristic destinations as well as new places to discover.”
With travel restrictions easing and Kuwaiti residents looking to escape the searing summer heat, the airline’s summer schedule will include some popular leisure destinations. This includes a resumed service to Beirut (Lebanon), which joins existing popular summer services such as Tbilisi (Georgia), as well as Trabzon and Bodrum (Turkey).
The airline is also connecting to other parts of the world that are traditionally underserved by other airlines. However, due to relaxed restrictions for vaccinated tourists, these routes may just see an uptick in demand: Bishkek (Kyrgyzstan), Tashkent (Uzbekistan), and Yerevan (Armenia).”
With easing travel restrictions, are you optimistic about the airline’s performance in the third quarter? Let us know your thoughts in the comments.
from Simple Flying https://ift.tt/3shwdWv
via IFTTT
Comments
Post a Comment