Interview with Jazeera CEO Barathan Pasupathi
Live virtual link up to Jazeera in Kuwait.
Barathan Pasupathi (Bara), Chief Executive Officer of Jazeera Airways is Singaporean and has more than 30 years of global aviation experience spanning finance, commercial strategy, operations, and aircraft procurement and leasing. A seasoned airline leader, he has built a strong reputation for leading organizations with purpose, turning around businesses, driving transformation, delivering performance, and sustainable growth in competitive markets. Since assuming the role of CEO in March 2024, Bara has led Jazeera Airways through a period of strategic expansion and operational discipline, culminating in the airline achieving record profitability in 2025, its strongest financial performance to date. Under his leadership, the airline has advanced its growth agenda through network expansion, fleet optimization, digital innovation, and a continued focus on safety, efficiency, and customer value. He joined Jazeera from Jetstar Asia where he was the CEO for 12 years in Asia growing Asian markets as well as founding executive and CFO between 2004 to 2007 guiding the airline through multiple phases of growth and industry change. From 2007 to 2010, he served as CFO at Jazeera Airways and listed the airline on the Kuwait stock Market and set up Sahaab Aircraft leasing. A prominent industry leader shaping the future of aviation, Bara has been featured by Forbes for his leadership influence and contributions to the sector. He is also an acclaimed speaker on aviation strategy, airline economics, and industry transformation, frequently addressing regional and global aviation audiences.
Transcript
Richard Quest:Joining me, Barathan, can you hear me?
Barathan Pasupathi:Guten Tag. Welkommen, willkommen bei Kuwait, Richard.
Richard Quest:Good to— well, there we go. Yes, I'm glad we managed to get the connection. How are things in Kuwait? Today, how are you? How's the airline performing?
Barathan Pasupathi:Look, Richard, thank you for the session. Look at Jazeera Airways. We are a 20-year-old outfit in Kuwait. We have 32% of the market share. While I sit here, I can tell you just 2 kilometers away is the terminal and the airport, and the airport has 3 runways. We have been shut. We have been shut. Since 7 a.m. on the 28th of February, when everything broke out in this part of the world, we have been shut for 55 days. And at the same time, I can tell you we are very pleased that we are the only airline at the moment out of almost 45 airlines that used to serve Kuwait that have invented or innovated what's called the Kuwait Air Bridge. If you ask me to answer you how the airline is performing, We are putting people before profits. This is a wartime situation. The low-cost airline that is listed on the Kuwait Stock Exchange with a $1.2 billion valuation—
Richard Quest:Hang on a second. Hang on, hang on, hang on, hang on. Whoa, whoa, whoa. Yeah. Tim is flying 65% of his schedule. Yeah, Qatar's flying their schedule. Etihad. I could go through it. What are they doing right that you're not?
Barathan Pasupathi:Look, what we are doing as an airline is that we can only operate in an airport when it's open. But what we are doing right at the moment is we are actually transporting the whole Kuwait network on our schedules. We have 10 countries, 26 destinations. Via the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. The airport remains closed in Kuwait. In fact, if you look across the entire GCC, even today if I speak to you, Tehran in Iran is open, Mashhad in Iran is open, but Kuwait International Airport is shut for 55 days. So we are transporting customers from Kuwait all the way into Saudi Arabia, and we have done almost 9,000 bus trips We bus customers into Saudi Arabia and then we Airbus them on one of the 14 Airbus A320 or A320neo aircraft we have got parked in Dammam King Fahd International Airport. So we are operating, but only between 12% and this month we'll get to almost 40% of our capacity.
Richard Quest:Yeah, I understand, and I certainly applaud the The originality in running a bus service, and if and if the airline business doesn't work out for you, National Express coaches I'm sure will look at you favorably. But how do you and how do you hope to get the thing moving again? Because eventually the airport will open. Eventually the authorities will decide that it is safe for you. Although I'm spoiled. I'm sure there'll be some questions as to why they haven't made that judgment already, but that's beyond your pay grade, as they say. So how— what plans are you making for then?
Barathan Pasupathi:Look, Richard, you're absolutely right. We used to call Kuwait Air Hub our home. We had all 23 aircraft operating out of Kuwait and we had almost 5 million customers a year. However, since the war started on the 28th of February, we are now actually operating out of 5 different hubs. 4 in Saudi Arabia, 1 in Cairo. We are operating out of 5 different hubs. However, when the airport opens, when the airport opens, as you say, when the fat lady sings and the airport opens, we'll bring all our aircraft back into Kuwait. We'll bring all our aircraft back into Kuwait. So hence, until then, the only thing that we can do, and we have been the only airline to actually be to to basically sprint right from the starting block because we are operating almost for 10 days. We have been operating close to 400 services. Right. And can we— yeah, go ahead.
Richard Quest:Can I ask you, and feel free, as the Americans say, feel free to plead the Fifth to this question because I recognize—
Barathan Pasupathi:go ahead.
Richard Quest:Do you understand why the airport is not open? Does it make sense that the airport is not open? And you can plead the Fifth.
Barathan Pasupathi:Look, before I say that, I have to appreciate what the Kuwait Ministry of Defense and all the security folks have been doing. They have kept the nation safe. They've kept the nation safe. While you've been watching CNN and all the different news, of course, rightfully CNN, and all the different news, it may have seemed that this place has been unsafe, but The shopping malls are packed. The restaurants are packed. Kuwait is safe. However, the airport has been closed for obvious reasons not known to the airline. And I'll leave it to what you said. It's above my pay grade, and we appreciate and we respect that. Yeah, I do. But we have not stopped doing business.
Richard Quest:How are your buses? Are your buses comfortable? Are you serving food and drink on the buses?
Barathan Pasupathi:Look, look, speak to Michael or Larry. Speak to Michael or Larry. Does Michael or Larry serve food and drinks on Ryanair? If you want to pay for that service, we'll serve it. You know, we are a low-cost airline listed on the stock exchange and we follow the principles of low-cost airlines, but we are not ultra-low cost. We still look after our customers.
Richard Quest:Oh boy, you're, you're, you're choosing to split hairs on the, on the question of what you get on a low cost. Listen, sir, I'm sure you never expected to end up running a bus service when you started in your aviation career, but transportation is transportation, and it's, it's getting people from A to B. It's getting people to their loved ones in a safe fashion. Thank you for joining us, sir. I look forward to your aircraft being back in the air.
Barathan Pasupathi:Thank you so much, Richard.
Richard Quest:Thank you.
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