Kuwait's Wataniya Airways was launched in January 2009 as a premium airline with an inaugural double daily service to Dubai. Today, the carrier flies to 12 destinations, including two in Europe but has not yet been able to turn a profit. Wataniya Airways CEO, George Cooper, hopes that will soon change.
In the year and a half since its launch, Wataniya Airways has become the third largest carrier in the Kuwait market on the basis of weekly seat capacity:
|
Carrier |
Weekly Seat Capacity |
Destinations |
Market Share |
|
Kuwait Airways |
34,856 |
31 |
26% |
|
Jazeera Airways |
20,294 |
17 |
15% |
|
Wataniya Airways |
15,622 |
12 |
11% |
|
Emirates |
7,125 |
1 |
5% |
|
Egyptair |
7,060 |
4 |
5% |
Source: Flightbase September 14-20, 2010
Wataniya Airways operates a point-to-point network from Kuwait's Sheikh Saad Terminal to Bahrain, Lebanon (Beirut), Egypt (Cairo, Sharm El Sheikh and Alexandria), Syria (Damascas), Jordan (Amman), KSA (Jeddah), Turkey (Istanbul), Austria (Vienna) and Italy (Rome).
This summer, Wataniya is seeing strong growth between Kuwait and Cairo, George Cooper, CEO tells Routes News. The airline launched a double daily service on the route on March 3.
More recently, Europe has been a major focus for the airline, with new services to Istanbul starting in May and to Vienna in June.
There is speculation that Wataniya may be looking to expand into Asia, with flights to India. Cooper, however, wont be drawn on the topic, saying: "Wataniya Airways is studying opportunities in a number of cities around the world and is open to destinations that serve the needs and expectations of its' guests - limited, of course, by the range of the A320 aircraft we fly."
"We feel that there are opportunities to connect Kuwait with a number of cities which are not currently being flown by any operator."
Wataniya Airways Holidays
Wataniya is also aiming to tap into leisure travel through its holidays brand, which marks a change in direction for the airline, as it has tended to focus on serving business traffic.
Will this be enough to see it achieving a profit? Cooper is hopeful it will: "We are confident that we are progressing in line with our expectations to break even by 2011 and to start counting profits in 2012."
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