Jazeera Kuwait Dubai listings

[sharewadi]

Jazeera Airways (JazeeraAirways) may have a Dubai listing in 2007 - some older news I'm just adding now. Could this be the spark to ignite a bit of life into DIFX? Not if it trades like any other Kuwaiti company with a Dubai listing - ie hardly ever ...

Gulf News 01 November 2006:

Jazeera Airways may list shares in Dubai next year By Shakir Husain, Staff Reporter Dubai: Kuwait's low-cost carrier Jazeera Airways will consider a share listing in Dubai next year, its chairman said yesterday. "A listing in Dubai will offer us an opportunity to reach out to the wider global aviation community and financial institutions," Marwan Boodai told Gulf News. He said the company management will look at both the Dubai Financial Market and the Dubai International Financial Exchange for a listing. Jazeera's shares will be listed on the Kuwait Stock Exchange in the first quarter of 2007. The company has doubled its capital to $70 million to accommodate expansion, Boodai said. In its first year of operations, the airline carried 500,000 passengers and achieved 74 per cent load factor. From its base in Kuwait it flies to 13 destinations. Jazeera made its first flight on October 30 last year. Boodai said with the scheduled delivery of new planes the number of passengers in the second year will double. At present it has four A320 aircraft and one is due for delivery in January. Last year it signed a confirmed order for 10 A320s and took option on six. Boodai said the company will turn the six-plane option into a confirmed order. He said the airline does not plan to lease aircraft for expanding the fleet. "Owning our aircraft allows us to control costs," Boodai said. By 2007-end the airline also aims to double the number of destinations it serves. "We delivered on the promise of adding one destination a month in the first year. We want to continue to grow at this rate," Boodai said. He said low-cost airlines can play a major role in boosting regional travel.

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[sharewadi]

[edit] merged post from 07 Feb 2007 1:13 pm with this topic [/edit]

Near the end of this article about the launch of Jazeera Airlines from Dubai, there's a paragraph saying they may consider listing their shares in Dubai. They'll list in Kuwait first, later this year in Dubai.

Gulf News 07 February 2007:

Jazeera airline to use Dubai as hub By Shakir Husain, Staff Reporter Dubai: The government of Dubai has granted permission to Kuwaiti budget carrier Jazeera Airways to make the city a hub for international flights. The privately-owned airline will be the second carrier after Emirates to use Dubai International Airport as its base. Shaikh Ahmad Bin Saeed Al Maktoum, President of Dubai Civil Aviation and Chairman and Chief Executive of Emirates Group, told reporters the move is in line with the government's open skies policy. Jazeera chairman and chief executive officer Marwan Boodai announced the airline will initially fly to seven destinations from Dubai, offering travellers "year-round low fares." Jazeera becomes the only low-fare airline operating out of Dubai International Airport. Boodai said the airline will "add value" to the city's travel trade by attracting more passengers. The company will consider a second stock exchange listing in Dubai after its shares are listed in Kuwait in the middle of this year, Boodai said. "We are not using Dubai just for our flight operations, we would like to become a part of Dubai's fin-ancial system," he told Gulf News. Jazeera will mark the beginning of its Dubai operations with a flight to Bahrain tomorrow. It will have thrice-weekly direct flights between Dubai and Bahrain. Services to the remaining six routes will begin on March 27. The airline will serve Kuwait, Mumbai, Kochi, New Delhi, Muscat and Salalah from Dubai. "Now we are serving 14 destinations and by summer this number will increase to 22," he said. Jazeera operates a fleet of five Airbus A320s fitted with all-leather seats. It is scheduled to take delivery of 10 aircraft by the end of 2009. The airline is likely to turn its option on six A320s into a confirmed order. "We learned during our 15 months of operations that we were not wrong to insist on having our own brand new fleet of Airbus A320 aircraft, while many airlines in the world prefer leasing to cut their cost further," Boodai said, adding that owning aircraft is one of the ways the airline is able to offer low fares. Boodai said Jazeera is "aggressively looking for" additional hubs in the Middle East and North Africa in order to serve the expanding the regional aviation sector. "Dubai is just the beginning we will need more hubs as we expand." Since starting operations in October 2005, Jazeera has flown 650,000 passengers. The airline is targeting 1.3 million passengers by the end of 2007.

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[sharewadi]

In Arabian Business there was news of Jazeera Airways (JazeeraAirways) flying to Shiraz in Iran. There was also a couple of paragraphs about its upcoming listing on the Kuwait Stock Exchange (KSE) and possible listing in Dubai - still not specified whether it will be DFM or DIFX.

Arabian Business 13 March 2007:

"Iran is a large country and as whole is an important destination for business travellers and tourists from Kuwait and the region. And by serving three destinations in Iran, our travellers will now have a choice of direct flights to target city," said Marwan Boodai, the airline's chairman and CEO. In Arabian Business magazine on Sunday, Mr. Boodai said that his company's expansion plans will mean that its next destination is the stock market. The airline has confirmed plans to list on the Kuwait Stock Exchange by the end of this month, and is then expected to make a secondary listing of its shares in Dubai later this year, either on the Dubai Financial Market or Dubai International Financial Exchange, the report said. The carrier, which was formed in October 2005, has increased its capital to US$70m to help with the expansion.

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[sharewadi]

Jazeera Airways IPO was in 2004 says this report.
Jazeera Airways will list on KSE by end of Mar 2007.

So all those IPO subscribers had to wait 3 years before they could trade their shares on the stock market ? Seems odd to me.

And I thought that the RAK Properties IPO was slow to get going with a wait of many months. Makes the Dubai Financial Market IPO and listing seem blindingly fast in comparison - IPO in November 2006, listed in March 2007.

Arabian Business 11 March 2007:

Blue skies ahead by Andrew White on Sunday, 11 March 2007 No, no, I must keep my feet on the ground!” exclaims Marwan Boodai as we dash across a vacant runway outside Dubai International Airport’s gleaming exhibition centre. “I will let my pilots fly the planes!” He may have no interest in training for his own pilot’s licence, but the CEO of low-cost carrier Jazeera Airways appears to be intimately involved in every other aspect of his fledgling carrier. Already this morning, he has unveiled ambitious expansion plans to the world’s media, taken Chairman of Emirates Group and President of Dubai Civil Aviation, HH Sheikh Ahmed bin Saeed Al Maktoum on a personal guided tour of the airline’s new Airbus A320, and even managed to keep smiling despite a somewhat lengthy photo shoot on the windswept runway. Frankly, it is a miracle his feet ever touch the ground. Minutes later, we are settled into comfy chairs in the relative peace and quiet of a conference centre swarming with dignitaries, beaming Jazeera cabin crew and journalists. “You have to delegate and you have to depend on people to make their own decisions, but let’s be honest, sometimes you have to just step in just to put things back on track,” explains Boodai with a smile. “You put the business plan in operation and then leave it alone, but the minute it veers from the strategy, then you have to step in. With Jazeera, I’ve not had to step in much — I just enjoy the ride!” And what a ride it has been. The region’s first privately owned scheduled passenger airline has soared in the year it has been cruising the skies above the Middle East, and despite his disarming modesty, Boodai has played a crucial role within this success. Today, he has announced major plans to open a second hub in Dubai, in a bid to further the Kuwait-based carrier’s already remarkable expansion. The move makes Jazeera the only low-fare airline operating out of Dubai, and the airline will initially offer direct flights to Bahrain, Kuwait, Mumbai, Kochi, New Delhi, Muscat and Salalah. “It’s a different challenge as it’s a different market from Kuwait, but we’re confident that we will be as successful here as we have been back home,” insists Boodai. “Look at Dubai, look at this beautiful city, it’s so attractive and people will always want to come here,” he continues. “We will have a lot of challenges but as long as you plan for that, and with all the support we have had from the Dubai authorities, then all these challenges can be overcome. “This was perfect timing for us to come here and become part of HH Sheikh Mohammed’s vision and strategy for 2015,” he adds. “You have to have a long-term plan as it’s a very big investment for us, and a major step. The reason we’ve chosen Dubai is because of that vision.” Jazeera Airways is a Kuwait public shareholding company, and was established in 2004 with a capital of US$35m, raised through one of the most successful IPOs in Kuwait’s history. In its year of operation, it has dumbfounded the critics who argued that a low-cost carrier could not survive among the region’s government-owned big boys. Instead, the success of Jazeera has been a crucial element in the low-cost drive that has seen budget carriers take over 5% of the Middle East and North Africa aviation market. “In the year we have been operating, the biggest challenge for us has been changing people’s perceptions, and especially our governments’ perceptions,” reveals Boodai. “You’ve got a lot of boundaries around the Middle East, and the main challenge was that our peers were civil aviation [authorities] with wings.” Yet the very fact that Jazeera is a privately owned company has, perversely, made the region’s governments even more receptive to the idea of allowing the carrier to operate in their airspace. “Being a private company has its advantages because we are not a threat to the national carriers — we really have to care about our own balance sheet and make sure that we serve our partners,” explains Boodai. “That’s why we can’t operate at a loss, and that’s something all the major airlines understand. “We act fast, we move fast, and that’s how we capture the market,” he continues. “We’ve proved so far that we add value to the market, we bring growth, and we do not damage the value of the existing carriers.” Based on a low-fare business model that maximises across-the-board efficiency in operations, Jazeera Airways enables travellers to fly without a ticket and book through the web, promising travellers more independence, spontaneity, and fares up to 50% less than the market average. Such benefits are clearly outlined in the company’s sophisticated business plan, which was carefully assembled in consultation with industry experts around the world. As a result, Jazeera has managed to hit every target in terms of passenger numbers, destinations, and fleet expansion for its first year of operation. “Your business model evolves because you can’t predict everything 100% from the beginning, but timing is crucial in our business,” reveals Boodai, whose airline will carry its millionth passenger this month. For the calendar year 2007, Jazeera is aiming to break the 1.3 million barrier. “If you look at Europe, for example, there are so many low-cost carriers,” he continues. “Yet you only hear about the successful ones — you don’t hear about the ones that fold every week. Being the first is very, very important in this business.” At the forefront of the Middle East’s low-cost carrier industry, Jazeera is constantly pushing for the further liberalisation of the region’s skies. It is a battle the carrier is winning, claims Boodai. “We see these boundaries falling one by one,” he says. “Recently we were invited by the Jordanian authorities, who are opening their skies. A year ago that wasn’t the case, but now it’s open-ended — as many flights as we can fit in there — because they’ve seen the benefits, the added value that we bring to their own economy. “Egypt is the same thing — we’ve got four destinations we’re operating now in Egypt and across other destinations in the Middle East, we’re either adding capacity or opening more destinations,” he continues. “It takes two to tango, though,” he admits. “We’ve got some governments who really believed in the low-cost model, and others where we had to take another step and demonstrate to them what we’ve done and how it works, and prove ourselves to them. However, no governments have been unreceptive.” Indeed, Boodai believes that the number of countries that have liberalised their airspace has now reached critical mass in the Middle East. There’s revolution in the air. “We’re living in a phenomenal market here in the Middle East,” he insists. “In India in five years’ time they’re forecasting 80 million passengers [a year]. As we speak today, the Middle East has 154 million. “We wish that all the barriers and boundaries between the countries would come down — so it becomes like the EU where you can fly freely from one state to the other without any restrictions — and we see that happening in the near future,” he continues. “If you count the number of countries that have adopted this policy — the UAE, Bahrain, Qatar, Kuwait, Jordan, Lebanon, Egypt — what’s left? It will happen, and much quicker than we ever anticipated.” As the barriers fall, so Jazeera is aiming to spread its wings wider across the region. Boodai insists that the priority now is to open up to as many destinations as possible, then build flight frequencies later. “Being the first has given us the advantage and we will capitalise on that,” he says. “Growth in the first five years is extremely important in this industry — you have to expand, while at the same time keeping your cost base low.” Besides, he argues, flight frequency is limited by the number of planes the company actually has in service. “Our policy as a company and as a board is only to operate brand new aircraft,” says Boodai. “The difficulty we’re facing today is getting these aircraft quick enough.” The airline flies a brand-new fleet of Airbus A320s, each powered by new CFM engines, and fitted with all-leather seats. Naturally, any mention of Airbus immediately brings to mind its struggling A380 programme, yet Boodai insists that Jazeera has not been affected. “Airbus was our manufacturer of choice and they’ve really helped Jazeera start up, and offered us continued support all the way through,” he says. “So far they’ve delivered on their promises and we’ve never had any problems with Airbus — deliveries have been on time, and on schedule.” Jazeera have been impressed enough with Airbus’ service to order a further six A320s, though Boodai refuses to rule out deals with rival manufacturer Boeing in the future. He expresses particular concern that the A380’s troubles might distract Airbus’ management focus enough to disrupt A320 production. “We based our business model on a single fleet, and until you reach a certain size it does not justify having two fleets within the airline,” he says. “We just hope that Airbus will continue to focus on the ‘Narrowbody’ aircraft [such as the A320], which is a very mature type of aircraft, making a lot of money, and financing the rest of the operation for Airbus. “We hope that they have more production lines for the A320s, rather than spending all their time trying to work out the problems with the A350s and the A380s,” he continues. “We’re worried that management focus will be driven towards firefighting and resolving problems with other production lines, leaving this ‘Narrowbody’ production at the back.” Yet while there might not be any changes on the runway in the near future, Jazeera’s next destination is assured — the stock market. The airline has confirmed plans to list on the Kuwait Stock Exchange by the end of this month, and is then expected to make a secondary listing of its shares in Dubai later this year, either on the Dubai Financial Market or Dubai International Financial Exchange. In readiness, the carrier has increased its capital to US$70m to help with the expansion. “As we were incorporated as a Kuwaiti company, we have to be listed there first before we can move into a secondary market,” explains Boodai. “However, Dubai is a very important market for us because Kuwait gives us a local platform, but Dubai will give us the international spectrum and give Jazeera a chance to be looked at by international investors and financiers and banks. “We are in the right industry at the right time,” he continues. “For investors it’s a long-term investment in a very high growth market, and we think that this is the best time, now that the markets across the region have settled down.” Jazeera will not be hard to sell to would-be investors, who will be further heartened to hear the CEO’s forthright personal commitment to making money for his backers. “In any business, if you don’t make a profit, it’s a personal as well as a financial loss,” he insists. “You have not achieved; you have not ‘done it’. “Making a profit is the ultimate goal of any business,” he continues. “You have to make sure that you make a profit because you have to pay back your shareholders, you have to pay back your team, and you have to prove that your vision works and can make money.” For those who have been keeping a close eye on Jazeera’s progress, there can be no doubt that Boodai’s vision has proven a success. And there’s more to come. “We’d like to be a mix between Ryanair, easyJet, and JetBlue, within the Middle East,” says Boodai. “Thanks to these kinds of airlines, we have learned from both their mistakes, and what they have done right as well. “We’d like to be the airline with the largest fleet in the Middle East, and I think we will reach that.” Such ambition is stirring, and make no mistake: there is one man piloting Jazeera Airways, as it soars towards an even brighter future. The boss: Marwan Boodai Marwan Boodai is no stranger to multitasking. In his other role — that of CEO of the Boodai Corporation — he personally oversees a whole host of differing business operations. “My responsibilities range from media, broadcasting, printing, publishing, logistics, port operations, public transport and more — it’s a long list,” he chuckles. “I do manage to spend time on each of my businesses, though,” he continues. “With technology today you can do it, as long as you have the management teams in place to take care of things on a day-to-day basis.” He insists that there is no particular area of the business that is difficult to manage, though stresses again that the quality of his management teams is a key asset. “The personal connection with the team is very important,” he says. “We’re like one big family and it’s hard when you see people leaving to go home or something like that,” he continues. You have to create an environment and a spirit of teamwork, and you have to choose people very carefully to make sure that they all synchronise together well as a team and as a unit.” He does admit, however, that Jazeera Airways currently takes up more time than any other business concern. “Jazeera’s still in the start-up phase. It’s my new baby and you have to make sure you really give the right time, and take care of it, so it matures and can then fly by its own,” he explains. “It’s like your kids — you love them all. But the airline is a challenging business and we certainly want to make sure that Jazeera succeeds in this region.”

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[sharewadi]

Ah, so when you read this in March 2007: "The airline has confirmed plans to list on the Kuwait Stock Exchange by the end of this month," it actually means they'll apply for listing ...

Press Release 19 March 2007:

Jazeera Airways files for KSE listing The first private airline in the Middle East, Jazeera Airways (Kuwait Public Shareholding Company - KSC) (JazeeraAirways), has officially submitted its application for listing to the Kuwait Stock Exchange (KSE), and has appointed NBK Capital as financial advisors for the listing. NBK Capital is the investment and merchant banking subsidiary of National Bank of Kuwait, the region's highest rated bank. The airline raised 70% of KD 10 million (USD 34 million) initial capital through an upfront IPO in 2004 and was oversubscribed 12 times within a subscription period of ten days; creating a shareholder base of over 36,000 investors. Today, one in every 25 Kuwaitis is a shareholder in Jazeera Airways. The other 30% was raised by a group of investors prior to the IPO. The airline remains as the only operating international Middle Eastern airline that is neither owned nor subsidized by any government. On October 30th, 2005, fifteen months after the IPO, the airline launched flights to five destinations with two brand new Airbus A320s. Since then, Jazeera Airways has grown its network to 20 destinations across the Middle East, North Africa and India operating from two main hubs in Kuwait and Dubai. It has also grown its fleet to five brand new Airbus A320s, increased its confirmed order for Airbus A320s from four to ten and its options from four to six. Jazeera Airways Chairman and CEO Marwan Boodai said: 'KSE is one of the leading bourses in the Middle East with the second highest capitalization. Listing Jazeera Airways on the KSE is an important step in our long-term plans to build value for our shareholders. The application process usually takes 6 to 8 weeks; therefore we look forward to list in the second quarter of 2007.' NBK Capital Board Member and CEO George Nasra said: 'We are pleased to be the financial advisors to Jazeera Airways, the region's first private airline, with an impressive record of rapid growth and customer's satisfaction. We are excited to be part of such a momentous stride in the Airline's history.' The airlines' move to list was approved by its shareholders during the first Annual General Meeting in September, 2006. The shareholders also approved the increase in the company's capital by 100 per cent to KD 20 million (USD 68 Million), which will be generated through a rights issue to the existing 36,000 shareholders before the listing. Jazeera Airways intends to fund general working capital needs and expenditure, such as expanding its fleet of Airbus A320s with the capital expansion proceeds. Jazeera Airways has carried over 850,000 travelers to over 20 destinations to date. Its combination of added capacity, attractive fares and ongoing marketing has stimulated traffic to most of its destinations, such as Amman, Beirut, and Damascus to growth levels the industry has not witnessed in years. With recently introduced flights to Cyprus, Sharm El Sheikh, Muscat, Salalah, Tehran, Shiraz and increased frequency to Alexandria, Amman, and, Aleppo, Jazeera Airways now serves some of the most popular destinations in the Middle East, North Africa and the Indian Sub Continent.

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