Jazeera Airways Listed on KSE

By Sahar Moussa, Kuwait Times

Jan. 14–KUWAIT — Jazeera Airways will become the first private Kuwaiti airline to be listed on the Kuwait Stock Exchange (KSE) as of today (January 14), it was announced in a press conference yesterday. Held within Freedom Town at the Kuwait International Airport, where the new offices of Jazeera Airways have opened — the conference was presided by Charmain and CEO Marwan Boodai, NBK Capital Vice Chairman Shaikha Al-Bahar and the NBK Capital CEO Salah Al-Fulaij.

The first private airline to be listed on the KSE has partnered with NBK Capital for their listing. “Jazeera Airways brings a breath of fresh air to traders and investors alike. It has a unique business model that works to maximize operational revenue 365 days of the year, and has a great track record with a profitable financial performance in 2006 — its first full year, and the first 9 months of 2007,” said Al-Fulaij speaking about the company’s past track record. Plans to equip the entire Jazeera fleet with state-of-art technology than enabled travelers to use their mobiles, blackberries and e-mail on board from 2009 were also announced.

Boodai commented: “We are excited to be one of the first airlines in the world to install technology that allows travelers to use their mobile phones during flight. The new service will be available to all passengers for a fee, and will empower passengers to continue communicating with their families or their office while on board. “We have taken this huge step only after getting approval of the system from United States and Europe that ensured its safety to flight travel. Besides, we have worked on this s ervice in particular for a long while because we believe in freedom and the ability to communicate literally translates that feeling.

Boodai continued: “NBK Capital is the financial advisors for the listing and it is the investment and merchant banking subsidiary of National Bank of Kuwait, the region’s highest rated bank and we are very proud to be partners with a bank that has such a long and standing history, and I believe it is the biggest and only bank in Middle East that can meet the demands of the Kuwaiti market.

Expansion

Jazeera Airways launched commercial operations on October 30 2005, with two brand new Airbus A320s operating to five destinations. Since then it has grown its fleet to six Airbus A320s — all fitted with leather seats — and has added 25 nonstop routes, operated from a primary hub in Kuwait and a secondary hub in Dubai. The airline ended 2006 with $8.7 million profit and continued its positive performance throughout 2007. The airline carried 600,000 passengers in 2006, and 1.2 million in 2007.

Last June at the Paris Air show, Jazeera Airways increased its confirmed order for Airbus A320s from 10 aircraft to 40 aircraft. Jazeera Airways began taking deliveries last month and will continue until 2014, when the last ordered aircraft will be delivered. Jazeera Airways is the only airline in Kuwait that is neither owned nor subsidized by the government. Within the short span of time, Jazeera Airways has proved itself as a successful private airline, prompting other hesitant players in the private sec tor to follow suit.

Boodai added that Jazeera Airways was about to accomplish one of the biggest maintenance and training installations in Middle East supporting the Kuwaiti economy and world market. The headquarter of installation will be located in Kuwait. This will generate hundreds of job opportunities for Kuwaiti youths. From January 14, Jazeera Airways will be listed on KSE with the ticker ‘Jazeera’.

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