Jazeera Airways Group announces record earnings for 9-months 2011

Freedom Town, Kuwait – October 31, 2011 — In a live webcast with financial analysts, Jazeera Airways Group today announced a nine-months net profit of KD 9.2 million and third quarter (Q3) net profit of KD 6.1 million, up 36% from Q3 2010, making Q3 2011 the Group’s fifth consecutive quarter of record-profits since the introduction of the company’s Turn-Around Plan in mid-2010, and the best nine-month performance since inception.

?Jazeera Airways Group comprises a fully-owned aircraft leasing business (Sahaab Leasing) with assets deployed across the world, and a passenger airline business (Jazeera Airways) serving 18 destinations across the Middle East from Kuwait. Jazeera Airways is the largest airline serving the region from Kuwait. The results reflect the consolidated earnings of both business operations.

Q3 2011 Financial Highlights:
- Operating revenues: KD 19.3 million, up 38% from Q3 2010
- Operating expenses: KD 11.8 million, a marginal increase of 11% from Q3 2010
- Operating profit: KD 7.5 million, up 121% from Q3 2010
- Net profit: KD 6.1 million, 36% from Q3 2010
- Average yield up 42% from Q3 2010

Q3 2011 Operational highlights:
- Flown passengers: 337,629
- Highest on-time performance (OTP) in the Middle East (as cited by Flightstats.com)

Nine-month Financial Highlights
- Operating revenues: KD 44.5 million, up 40% from nine-month 2010
- Operating expenses: KD 32.5 million, a decrease of KD 2.7 million from nine-month 2010
- Operating profit: KD 12.1 million, compared to an operating loss of KD 1.7 million in nine-month 2010
- Net profit: KD 9.2 million, compared to a net loss of KD 4.8 million in nine-month 2010
- Average yield: up 44.8% from nine-month 2010

Nine-month Operational 2011 Highlights:
- Flown passengers: 902,007
- Maintained largest market share on leading routes
- Load factor: 67.1%, up 15% from nine-month 2010
?Jazeera Airways Group Chairman Marwan Boodai said, “We are glad to report another quarter of record earnings, proving the continued success of the Turn-Around Plan (TAP) and the institutionalization of the business and operational enhancements that were introduced as part of the plan. Today, the Group is well positioned for growth over the coming years.”

About the group’s Turn-Around Plan:?Since inception in late 2005, Jazeera Airways Group has been profitable every year until 2009, when it registered a net loss for the first time ever due to the overcapacity that was dumped in the market by existing government airlines and new players as well. The Turn-Around Plan was created as a direct response to this situation and aimed at solving this external challenge by resizing its own operations internally, and to ultimately bring the Group back to profitability.

Implemented in May 2010, the Turn-Around Plan included asset redeployment, staff reductions, rigorous cost management, network/market alignment and enhanced commercial offering, which were rolled out over the months that followed.