Thursday, Apr 25, 2013
(This article was first published on Wednesday.)
By Shikrallah Nakhoul
BEIRUT (Zawya Dow Jones)--Kuwait's Jazeera Airways Co. (JAZEERA.KW) said first-quarter net profit surged due to a growth in passenger traffic and in its aircraft leasing business.
Net profit more than tripled to 3.6 million Kuwaiti dinars ($12.6 million) in the first quarter of 2013 from KWD1.1 million a year earlier, the carrier said in a statement on Wednesday.
The group's total revenue rose 16% on the year to KWD14.7 million from KWD12.7 million in the first quarter of last year, according to the statement.
The number of flown passengers increased 5% on the year and the load factor rose 15% to an average of 70% during the first quarter of 2013.
Chairman Marwan Boodai said in the statement that the company has fully recovered from the suspension of the three Syrian destinations in the fourth quarter of 2012 and that this has also contributed to the profit growth.
The airline said its "forecasts remain unchanged and [that it] expects a mild second quarter, a seasonal increase in demand in the third quarter, and a mild fourth quarter to close the year."
The group operates a fleet of 12 fully owned Airbus A320s aircraft, distributed between its airline business Jazeera Airways and its leasing-arm Sahaab Aircraft Leasing.
Al Jazeera, which is listed on the Kuwait Stock Exchange, saw its shares close 2% higher at KWD0.5 in an overall positive market.
Write to Shikrallah Nakhoul at shikrallah@zawya.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
25-04-13 0349GMT
