Jazeera Airways ordered to pay fine for Covid parking

• Appeal against charges thrown out
• Fine of $155,000 after appeal
• Airline says it has ‘sufficient provisions’

Kuwait budget carrier Jazeera Airways has been ordered to pay a fine of more than $155,000 after an appeal against aircraft parking charges incurred during the Covid pandemic was thrown out.

The claim was initially launched by Kuwait’s Directorate General of Civil Aviation, the federal authority for airline-related activities.

The regulator had originally sought KD1.1 million ($3.6 million), with the court awarding $155,000. The airline appealed the decision but Kuwait’s Court of Appeal on Thursday upheld the initial ruling and said a further payment of $1,629 should be made for attorney fees as well as an unspecified amount for expenses.

In a disclosure to the Boursa Kuwait, Jazeera Airways said there would be “no sufficient impact” to the carrier’s balance sheet as there are “sufficient provisions to cover the full amount of the claim”.

In March Jazeera Airways was fined over KD72.8 million ($236 million) by a court after one of the airline’s Airbus A320s collided with a tethered military balloon eight years ago.

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Jazeera Airways, the first non-government owned airline in the Middle East, said in November that net earnings went up 16 percent year on year to KD13.5 million in the quarter ended September 2025, driven by high demand across leisure and family routes.

The airline carried more than 3.7 million passengers across its network of 64 destinations in the Middle East, Asia, Africa and Europe between January and September. The load factor stood at 76.5 percent.

It expanded its network to 72 destinations in the first nine months of 2025, up from 64 a year earlier.

Last month the board of directors of the low-cost carrier recommended that its founding shareholder buy all equity from minority shareholders.

In a statement, the company said the acquisition would be made through the Boodai Reliance Real Estate Company, which is jointly owned by Marwan and Jassim Boodai, who founded Jazeera Airways.

Shares in Jazeera Airways are up 67 percent in the year to date at KD1.68.