Kuwait's private low-cost Jazeera Airways said on Thursday it posted a net loss of $15.8 million in the second quarter of 2010 compared to a loss of $4.4 million a year ago.
The no-frills company's loss for the first half widened to $32.2 million in the first half from $7.8 million a year earlier.
Jazeera posted a net loss of $28.5 million for 2009, which it attributed to the fallout from the global economic crisis. In the previous year, it had a net profit of $15.6 million.
Assets more than doubled to $550 million on June 30 from $267 million a year ago, but shareholders' equity plunged to $36 million from $89 million.
Jazeera, which began operations in October 2005, has 11 Airbus A320s and flies to about 25 destinations in the Middle East and Asia at highly reduced fares. It has ordered a further 29 Airbus A320s.
The carrier used to operate from two hubs in Kuwait City and Dubai, but it pulled out of Dubai in June 2009.