Jazeera Airways continues to buck the trend

Jazeera Airways Chairman Marwan Boodai said, "Jazeera Airways continues to surprise the market with year on year revenue and profit growth. This despite the challenges in 2008 from high fuel prices which resulted in fuel comprising 40% of revenues (32% in 2007)."

"We managed these results on the back of yield improvement of 18.5% and reducing our Cost per ASK by 8%. The strategic initiative to deleverage the business in 2008, with the sale and leaseback of some assets has strengthened our balance sheet at exactly the right time, considering the current credit crisis," Boodai added.

Looking forward to 2009, Boodai said, "We have now flown more than 3.7 million passengers since we started operation and operate to 25 destinations with a fleet of eight aircraft operating from two hubs. We will add another 51% to our capacity during 2009 to build on the continued success of our first three years while continuing to target sustainable performance by robust yield and cost management programs, which in turn enable us to maximize shareholder returns as we pursue our aggressive growth targets."

Jazeera Airways is listed on the Kuwait Stock Exchange and operates a fleet of eight Airbus A320s from hubs in Kuwait and Dubai to destinations across the Middle East, Europe, Iran, North Africa, and the Indian Subcontinent. The airline has just taken delivery of two aircraft in Q4'08 and has firm orders for 32 additional aircraft, to be delivered over the coming years with the last fleet installment scheduled for delivery in 2014.