Jazeera Airways has indicated that it is keen on expanding further into India as it looks to acquire new planes and explore the prospect of new flights. The announcement comes as the airline celebrates five years of service to the largest country in South Asia.
Rapid growth
Jazeera Airways was founded in Kuwait in 2004 and commenced flight operations in 2005. By 2017, the low-cost carrier served 17 destinations with a fleet of seven aircraft. Since then, the airline has expanded to serve 55 destinations with a fleet of 19 aircraft, even in spite of a pandemic that devastated the travel industry.
In fact, Jazeera Airways was one of the first to return to profitability in the second half of 2021, and it recently reported a net profit of 21.76 million Kuwaiti Dinars ($71 million) for the first nine months of 2022 after carrying 2.6 million passengers at a load factor of 76.4%. The carrier also added 11 new routes this year and two new aircraft to its fleet, which is Airbus-dominated and consists of eight A320s and 11 A320neos. The airline currently has 20 A320neos and eight A321neos on order.
It is also worth noting that the carrier earned one-fifth of its revenue from the Jazeera Terminal (Terminal 5) at Kuwait International Airport (KWI), which it recently renovated in order to support 4.5 million passengers per year from 3 million.
Expansion into India
Within India, Jazeera Airways currently flies to eight destinations: Delhi, Mumbai, Hyderabad, Kochi, Chennai, Ahmedabad, Bengaluru, and Thiruvananthapuram. The abundance of choices is strategic, given the size of the Indian ex-pat population in Kuwait, and the airline plans to add even more destinations in India to its flight network in the future.
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The decision to expand further into India stems from a number of factors. First and foremost is the size of the Indian market and its projected growth, which is among the greatest in the region. Second is the fact that existing Jazeera Airways flights to and from India are operating at a load factor of 85%, which is 10% higher than the load factor of all Jazeera Airways flights in the first nine months of 2022 and, therefore, an indicator of strong demand. Lastly is the fact that the carrier has observed a steady flow of traffic from India to Turkey, Egypt, and Azerbaijan in the past, which is once again an indicator of a strong demand for international travel that can be capitalized upon.
Jazeera Airways is ultimately looking to leverage its existing momentum to continue its trend of rapid expansion and establish itself as a major player in the Indian market. In addition to new planes and routes, the airline is marketing itself heavily at trade shows across the country and partnering with banks to offer EMI options for tickets.
Outside of India, the carrier is looking at three new destinations in Saudi Arabia (in addition to the eight existing ones), one in Kyrgystan (Osh), and three in Iran (Tehran, Shiraz, and Isfahan). The demand for such routes and whether or not Jazeera Airways pursues them any further is something that will become clearer with time, but for now, the airline has a strong foundation to build off of.