On January 16th, Kuwait budget carrier Jazeera Airways took delivery of its sixth Airbus A320neo aircraft. The next-generation narrowbody departed Airbus facilities in Hamburg on the evening of January 15th, landing at Kuwait International Airport in the early morning hours of the following day. 

“We are pleased to welcome our newest A320neo to our fleet as we continue to take delivery of our scheduled orders for 2021. Despite the headwinds driven by the global pandemic over the past year, we believe that travel will gradually return to normal thanks to the success of safety and health measures that are helping make travel safe for everyone.” - Jazeera Airways Chief Executive Officer, Rohit Ramachandran

Delivery details of the new aircraft

The new aircraft delivered to Jazeera Airways was an Airbus A320neo with registration 9K-CBF. Manufactured in at Airbus' facilities at Hamburg Finkenwerder, AIB Family Flights first spotted the jet in early November. A month later, on December 7th, the aircraft was seen conducting its engine run and taxi check before operating its first test flight about two weeks later. On December 29th, the aircraft had its customer acceptance flight.

9K-CBF finally had its delivery flight to Kuwait on the evening of January 15th, departing Hamburg at 19:36UTC. Data from flight-tracking services was unavailable for this flight, but with a flight distance of over 2,500 miles, the flight would have taken between five and a half to six hours, resulting in an arrival time of around 01:00UTC.

According to data from Planespotters.net, the aircraft is configured to have 12 premium seats and 144 seats in economy class. This is the airline’s "standard cabin configuration" and includes its signature leather seats.

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The Jazeera Airways fleet

With this latest delivery, Jazeera Airways now operates a fleet of 15 Aircraft aircraft: nine of the A320 model and six of the A320neo model. The airline states that three further A320neos will be delivered this year.

Below is a short video of the new aircraft in Hamburg, being prepared for departure:

The A320neo offers a range of benefits for its customers. This includes fuel-saving and longer range, quieter engines with lower CO2 emissions, as well as additional payload capabilities with lower operating costs. 

The prior A320neo delivery

While the production of 9K-CBF was quite straightforward, a more interesting story lies with Jazeera Airways' prior A320neo delivery, 9K-CBE. That's because this particular aircraft was initially supposed to go to Italian low-cost carrier, Ernest Airlines.

Founded in 2015, the Milan-based A320 carrier, unfortunately, ceased operations one year ago due to airworthiness issues. Thus, it was left unable to accept delivery of its A320neo order.

In August 2020, the carrier announced that it had plans to restart operations as a regional carrier, pending governmental approval. This plan would have seen the carrier convert to an all ATR fleet, leaving behind its A320 jets.

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