Kuwaiti budget carrier Jazeera Airways is claiming interest from other carriers in using its newly-developed dedicated terminal at its Kuwait City airport base.
Terminal T5 commenced operations last year and has already turned in profitable quarters – it generated a net profit of KD240,000 ($790,000) in the three months to 30 June 2019.
Jazeera is the only user of the terminal, for which it arranged funding and construction.
But chief executive Rohit Ramchandran, speaking to FlightGlobal in London, said the airline has recently received inquiries from two other carriers interested in starting operations at the facility.
He declines to identify them, or confirm whether they are also budget airlines. Among the low-cost carriers serving Kuwait are Flydubai, IndiGo, Air Arabia, Flynas and Pegasus Airlines.
Ramachandran says the terminal is a "completely different" business model to that of the airline.
"Instead of paying the government, we're paying ourselves," he states.
Ramachandran cites the development of T5 as evidence of the Kuwaiti government's being "slightly ahead of its time" with its encouragement of the private sector.
"[The terminal] wouldn't have been possible without the government's not standing in our way," he says.
Jazeera evolved from a previous Kuwaiti government strategy to develop three additional airlines in the Gulf emirate, a strategy which was only partially successful.
Wataniya Airways ceased operations after just two years, and an attempt to resurrect the airline under a new business model also failed. Proposed freight carrier LoadAir failed to emerge despite securing an operating certificate and ordering Boeing 747 freighters.
