Kuwait's Jazeera Airways is evaluating bids from engine makers Pratt & Whitney and its current supplier CFM International for a jet engine order, after issuing a request for proposals in May.
The budget airline is open to offers from CFM, a General Electric and Safran joint venture, and Raytheon-owned Pratt & Whitney.
A final decision on the engines to power its new Airbus narrow-body jets would hinge on the commercial terms of the deal, Jazeera Airways' chief executive Rohit Ramachandran told The National on Sunday.
Asked if existing supplier CFM would be the natural choice for the engine order, Mr Ramachandran said: “It would be in Pratt & Whitney's interest to aggressively fight for this business because a decision genuinely has not been made.”
In January, the airline's board approved a $3.4 billion deal to buy 28 narrow-body aircraft from Airbus after signing a preliminary agreement at the Dubai Air show in November 2021. The deal included 20 A320 Neos and eight A321 Neos.
A decision on engines to power the aircraft will need to be made 24 months before delivery of the aircraft, Mr Ramachandran said.
“We have time … but we will probably make a decision well before that,” he said.
The 28 aircraft are scheduled for delivery from 2026, later than the airline's requirement.
However, it has arranged to receive two A320 Neos powered by CFM Leap engines by the end of August, he said.
“With the great support of Airbus, we have managed to engineer some slot swaps with other aircraft lessors and other airlines,” Mr Ramachandran said, declining to name them due to confidentiality clauses.
“Now the first two airplanes of that order are being delivered within the next two months.”
Jazeera Airways expects to record its second consecutive profitable year in 2022, “without a doubt”, on pent-up demand for travel after the easing of Covid-19 restrictions, Mr Ramachandran said.
The airline swung to an annual profit in 2021 as it carried more passengers and revenue increased, despite turbulent operating conditions in 2020.
Ancillary and aeronautical revenue from its dedicated Terminal 5 at Kuwait International Airport, which the airline owns and operates, will also lift earnings this year, according to Mr Ramachandran. The terminal currently accounts for 20 per cent of its profit.
The airline expects to carry at least 3.8 million passengers this year, about 25 per cent higher than pre-pandemic levels in 2019, he said.
Load factors, a measure of how well an airline is filling available seats, will reach about 80 per cent for the year.
However, higher fuel prices, which are now more than double what they were last year, are among the top pressures on the business, he said. The fuel bill constitutes about 35 per cent of the airline's total costs.
Jazeera Airways, which does not hedge fuel, has increased its fares in line with the rise in oil prices, Mr Ramachandran said.
Despite that, forward bookings for the summer season remain “very strong” for July through to late September, with load factors for the period hovering in the “low 80s [per cent]", he said.
Passenger demand is shifting from traditional routes such as London to those less-tread by Kuwaiti travellers such as Tashkent, Tbilisi and Kathmandu, Mr Ramachandran said.
The proposal to exempt Kuwaiti citizens from Schengen visa requirements when travelling to the EU for short stays of up to 90 days will “give a natural push for traffic to Schengen countries, which will form part of our network moving forward”, he said.
Jazeera Airways plans to start new routes to Eastern Europe by the end of the year.
This week, the airline will launch new routes to Vienna and Prague, and in the next 30 days, it will add three new cities in Saudi Arabia to its network, he said. Jazeera Airways already flies to six cities in the kingdom.
The airline, which already flies to Mashhad, will also add at least three more routes in Iran.
“Creating these new traffic flows with cities that were never connected with Kuwait goes to the heart of the low-cost airline model: would you rather spend money on a fancy dinner or would you rather go to Prague or Vienna for a long weekend?” Mr Ramachandran said.
Jazeera Airways will sign an initial agreement this week to join other Gulf airlines in operating shuttle flights to Qatar during this year's Fifa World Cup, he said.
It will operate six daily flights between Kuwait and Doha during the sports event.
Terror attacks in Paris, November 13, 2015
- At 9.16pm, three suicide attackers killed one person outside the Atade de France during a foootball match between France and Germany
- At 9.25pm, three attackers opened fire on restaurants and cafes over 20 minutes, killing 39 people
- Shortly after 9.40pm, three other attackers launched a three-hour raid on the Bataclan, in which 1,500 people had gathered to watch a rock concert. In total, 90 people were killed
- Salah Abdeslam, the only survivor of the terrorists, did not directly participate in the attacks, thought to be due to a technical glitch in his suicide vest
- He fled to Belgium and was involved in attacks on Brussels in March 2016. He is serving a life sentence in France
New UK refugee system
- A new “core protection” for refugees moving from permanent to a more basic, temporary protection
- Shortened leave to remain - refugees will receive 30 months instead of five years
- A longer path to settlement with no indefinite settled status until a refugee has spent 20 years in Britain
- To encourage refugees to integrate the government will encourage them to out of the core protection route wherever possible.
- Under core protection there will be no automatic right to family reunion
- Refugees will have a reduced right to public funds
UEFA CHAMPIONS LEAGUE FIXTURES
All kick-off times 10.45pm UAE ( 4 GMT) unless stated
Tuesday
Sevilla v Maribor
Spartak Moscow v Liverpool
Manchester City v Shakhtar Donetsk
Napoli v Feyenoord
Besiktas v RB Leipzig
Monaco v Porto
Apoel Nicosia v Tottenham Hotspur
Borussia Dortmund v Real Madrid
Wednesday
Basel v Benfica
CSKA Moscow Manchester United
Paris Saint-Germain v Bayern Munich
Anderlecht v Celtic
Qarabag v Roma (8pm)
Atletico Madrid v Chelsea
Juventus v Olympiakos
Sporting Lisbon v Barcelona
If you go
The flights
Emirates and Etihad fly direct to Nairobi, with fares starting from Dh1,695. The resort can be reached from Nairobi via a 35-minute flight from Wilson Airport or Jomo Kenyatta International Airport, or by road, which takes at least three hours.
The rooms
Rooms at Fairmont Mount Kenya range from Dh1,870 per night for a deluxe room to Dh11,000 per night for the William Holden Cottage.
Squid Game season two
Director: Hwang Dong-hyuk
Stars: Lee Jung-jae, Wi Ha-joon and Lee Byung-hun
Rating: 4.5/5
The specs: 2019 Haval H6
Price, base: Dh69,900
Engine: 2.0-litre turbocharged four-cylinder
Transmission: Seven-speed automatic
Power: 197hp @ 5,500rpm
Torque: 315Nm @ 2,000rpm
Fuel economy, combined: 7.0L / 100km
COMPANY%20PROFILE
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Results
5pm: Maiden (PA) Dh80,000 (Turf) 1,200m. Winner: Majd Al Megirat, Sam Hitchcott (jockey), Ahmed Al Shehhi (trainer)
5.30pm: Handicap (PA) Dh80,000 (T) 1,600m. Winner: Dassan Da, Patrick Cosgrave, Helal Al Alawi
6pm: Abu Dhabi Fillies Classic Prestige (PA) Dh110,000 (T) 1,400m. Winner: Heba Al Wathba, Richard Mullen, Jean de Roualle
6.30pm: Abu Dhabi Colts Classic Prestige (PA) Dh110,000 (T) 1,400m. Winner: Hameem, Adrie de Vries, Abdallah Al Hammadi
7pm: Wathba Stallions Cup Handicap (PA) Dh70,000 (T) 2,200m. Winner: Jawal Al Reef, Richard Mullen, Ahmed Al Mehairbi
Handicap (TB) Dh100,000 (T) 2,200m. Winner: Harbour Spirit, Adrie de Vries, Jaber Ramadhan.
FIXTURES
All times UAE ( 4 GMT)
Friday
Saint-Etienne v Montpellier (10.45pm)
Saturday
Monaco v Caen (7pm)
Amiens v Bordeaux (10pm)
Angers v Toulouse (10pm)
Metz v Dijon (10pm)
Nantes v Guingamp (10pm)
Rennes v Lille (10pm)
Sunday
Nice v Strasbourg (5pm)
Troyes v Lyon (7pm)
Marseille v Paris Saint-Germain (11pm)
Silent Hill f
Publisher: Konami
Platforms: PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S, PC
Rating: 4.5/5
COMPANY%20PROFILE
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Washmen Profile
Date Started: May 2015
Founders: Rami Shaar and Jad Halaoui
Based: Dubai, UAE
Sector: Laundry
Employees: 170
Funding: about $8m
Funders: Addventure, B&Y Partners, Clara Ventures, Cedar Mundi Partners, Henkel Ventures
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
Groom and Two Brides
Director: Elie Semaan
Starring: Abdullah Boushehri, Laila Abdallah, Lulwa Almulla
Rating: 3/5
Farage on Muslim Brotherhood
Nigel Farage told Reform's annual conference that the party will proscribe the Muslim Brotherhood if he becomes Prime Minister.
"We will stop dangerous organisations with links to terrorism operating in our country," he said. "Quite why we've been so gutless about this – both Labour and Conservative – I don't know.
“All across the Middle East, countries have banned and proscribed the Muslim Brotherhood as a dangerous organisation. We will do the very same.”
It is 10 years since a ground-breaking report into the Muslim Brotherhood by Sir John Jenkins.
Among the former diplomat's findings was an assessment that “the use of extreme violence in the pursuit of the perfect Islamic society” has “never been institutionally disowned” by the movement.
The prime minister at the time, David Cameron, who commissioned the report, said membership or association with the Muslim Brotherhood was a "possible indicator of extremism" but it would not be banned.
UAE%20SQUAD
%3Cp%3EMuhammad%20Waseem%20(captain)%2C%20Aayan%20Khan%2C%20Aryan%20Lakra%2C%20Ashwanth%20Valthapa%2C%20Asif%20Khan%2C%20Aryansh%20Sharma%2C%20CP%20Rizwaan%2C%20Hazrat%20Billal%2C%20Junaid%20Siddique%2C%20Karthik%20Meiyappan%2C%20Rohan%20Mustafa%2C%20Vriitya%20Aravind%2C%20Zahoor%20Khan%20and%20Zawar%20Farid.%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
David Haye record
Total fights: 32
Wins: 28
Wins by KO: 26
Losses: 4
