Kuwait�s first private airline to start in Feb.
(Reuters)
12 December 2004
KUWAIT - Kuwait�s first private airline, no-frills Al
Jazeera Airways, said yesterday it would begin
operations in February with two leased Airbus jets.
�Al Jazeera Airways will begin operations in February
with two Airbus 320-200 which will be rented for 6 to
8 months,� Jazeera�s Vice President of Operations,
Captain Adel Al Barjas, said.
When the two planes are returned in October 2005,
Jazeera will receive the first two of four Airbus jets
already purchased; it will get the other two in
October 2006, he said.
Barjas said that Al Jazeera was also in talks to
purchase four other Airbus planes and had the option
to decide on that up to 2008.
Al Jazeera � which will introduce low-cost air
transportation to the Gulf Arab state � will be the
first local competitor to indebted state airliner
Kuwait Airways Corp. But Al Jazeera officials said the
two carriers plan to sign cooperation agreements at
the beginning of 2005.
�We (Jazeera) will be monitored, and will follow the
same laws set forth by Kuwait�s Civil Aviation
(Authority),� added Barjas.
Al Jazeera plans regional flights to Bahrain and Dubai
and Middle Eastern routes to Lebanon, Jordan and Egypt
at its onset. Its primary expansion plan for the next
five years is to fly to more Gulf Arab and Middle
Eastern states, and the Indian subcontinent, Barjas
added.
The airliner has a capital of about 10 million Kuwaiti
dinars ($34 million), 70 per cent of which was
publicly subscribed and the rest provided by
Kuwait-based Boodai Group among other private
investors. Al-Jazeera�s low-budget services include
ticket prices 50 per cent below regular market rates.
Barjas said flight frequency during the first year of
operation will be about 30 flights per week and will
increase gradually as the carrier acquires the rest of
its fleet. It will start with an initial staff of 80
in the first year. �Some of the ways we will save
money is by outsourcing much of our staff, such as
maintenance and perhaps operations,� Barjas said.
�Hopefully in the next five years we will have our own
permanent staff,� he added.
Last year, the government of oil-rich Kuwait moved to
open up its airlines sector for competition by
approving the establishment of private passenger and
no-frills carriers, as well as air freight companies.
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