The Jazeera Airways shareholders have unanimously approved the Board’s recommendation to distribute cash dividends worth 50% of the capital equivalent for H2 of 2022. The decision was announced at Jazeera's Annual General Meeting (AGM) and Extraordinary General Meeting (EGM) held at its headquarters in Kuwait.
Dividends will be paid at $0.16 per share, amounting to a total payout of $35.8 million. This decision is taken on the backdrop of the airline announcing record profit for FY2022 of $65.7 million reporting a 183.6% increase on its 2021 results, and its operating revenue for the year stood at $595.4 million.
Commenting on the decision, Marwan Boodai, Chairman, Jazeera Airways said: “For 2022, Jazeera Airways announced the highest profits in the history of our airline, despite a year marred with high fuel prices that added significantly to our costs. This highlights our stringent cost management strategy, strong business plan and hardworking team that drove this success across our network. We are pleased to share our success with our investors and shareholders and look forward to continuing this dynamic growth in the coming future."
Over the last decade, Jazeera Airways has paid a total of $351.3 million in cash to shareholders with its latest half-year payout amounting to more-than-double its usual shareholder dividend. During the H1 of 2022, airline airline distributed cash dividends at $0.098, taking its full-year payout to $0.26 per share.
The airline served 3.6 million passengers in 2022, a 50% increase on its pre-COVID total of 2.4 million in 2019. Besides the airline added 15 destinations in 2022 including new route in India and its very first in China. Jazeera is also planning three new European routes Tirana Mother Teresa International Airport (TIA), Munich Airport (MUC) and Belgrade Nikola Tesla Airport (BEG).
Also, the airline will resume services to Sarajevo International Airport in April 2023, and Prague Václav Havel Airport in June 2023, taking its total tally to 62 destinations across Europe, the Middle East, Central & South Asia and Africa.