Kuwait Airways

The carrier traces its history back to 1953, when Kuwait National Airways was formed by a group of Kuwaiti businessmen; initially, the government took a 50% interest. That year, a five-year management contract was signed with British International Airlines (BIA), a BOAC subsidiary in Kuwait that operated charter flights and provided maintenance services. Two Dakotas were bought, and operations started on 16 March 1954. The carrier transported 8,966 passengers in its first year of operations. In July 1955, the name Kuwait Airways was adopted. In May 1958, a new contract for management and operation was signed, directly with BOAC this time. BIA was taken over by Kuwait Airways in April 1959.

On 8 August 1962, Kuwait Airways became the first foreign customer to order the Trident when two aircraft of the type were acquired, and an option for a third was taken. The deal was valued at £5.5 million, and also included a Comet 4C. At the same time, the carrier also had a £3 million order in place for three BAC One-Elevens, with an option for a fourth. The airline took delivery of the first Comet of its own in January 1963, but Comet operations had started in July the previous year with an aircraft on lease from MEA. In August 1963, a second Comet was ordered. The delivery of this second airframe established an unofficial record in early 1964 when it flew between London and Kuwait, a distance of 2,888 miles (4,648 km), at 461 miles per hour (742 km/h) on average. On 1 June 1963, the government increased its participation in the airline to 100%. In March 1964, the carrier added its first European destination to the route network when flights to London were inaugurated using Comet equipment; from that time, services between London and some points in the Middle East, including Abadan, Bahrain, Beirut, Dhahran, Doha and Kuwait, started being operated in a pool agreement between the carrier and BOAC and MEA. A month later, the airline absorbed Trans Arabia Airways.

In April 1965, the route network had expanded to include Abadan, Baghdad, Bahrain, Beirut, Bombay, Cairo, Damascus, Doha, Frankfurt, Geneva, Jerusalem, Karachi, London, Paris and Tehran. At this time, the fleet comprised two Comet 4Cs, three DC-6Bs, two Twin Pioneers and three Viscount 700s; the carrier had two Trident 1Es and three One-Elevens pending delivery. The first Trident was handed over by the aircraft manufacturer in March 1966, and the second followed in May the same year. In the interim, a third aircraft of the type was ordered. On the other hand, the One-Elevens were never delivered: in January 1966, the carrier stated that the simultaneous introduction of both types of aircraft was not possible due to a tightened budget, and postponed their delivery; it was informed late that year that the airline would not take them. Three Boeing 707-320Cs were ordered in November 1967. The carrier made its first profit ever in 1968, with a net income of £910,000.

During 1972, Kuwait Airways' fifth consecutive profitable year, the airline had a net profit of £2.9 million. By May 1973, the fleet had reduced to five Boeing 707-320C aircraft. That year, flights to Colombo were launched. In March 1975, Faisal Saud Al-Fulaij, who employed 1,800, was the corporation's chairman. In a deal worth US$14 million, two additional ex-Pan American Boeing 707-320Cs were subsequently purchased that year, with the first one entering the fleet in May. The carrier ordered its first Boeing 737 that year, slated for delivery in February 1976. Kuwait Airways became the Boeing 727's 96th worldwide customer in 1979 when it ordered three of these aircraft for delivery in late 1980 and early 1981.

By July 1980, chairmanship was held by Ghassan Al-Nissef, the number of employees had grown to 5,400 and the fleet comprised eight Boeing 707-320Cs, one Boeing 737-200, three Boeing 747-200Bs and one JetStar; three Boeing 727-200s were pending delivery. In mid 1980, six Airbus A310-200s were ordered to replace the Boeing 707s on routes to Asia, Europe and the Middle East, with deliveries starting in 1983; five more A310 aircraft were added to the order late that year.

After India's air market was deregulated in 1992, Kuwait Airways and Gulf Air participated in the formation of Jet Airways, each holding a 20% equity stake, with a total investment estimated at US$8 million. Following the enactment of a law that banned the investment of foreign carriers in domestic Indian operators, both airlines had to divest their shareholding in the Indian company. Kuwait Airways' 20% stake in Jet Airways was sold to the chairman Naresh Goyal for US$4 million.

In July 1996, the carrier modified a previous order that included Boeing 747 aircraft, and placed an order worth US$280 million for two Boeing 777-200s, with purchase rights for another aircraft of the type. The operation made Kuwait Airways the 22nd customer of the type worldwide. The airframer handed over the first Boeing 777-200 in early 1998. In December 1998, a code-share agreement was signed with Trans World Airlines to begin in the spring of 1999.

In October 2007, the new CEO pledged that the airline should be privatised to compete efficiently against other airlines. He says that the airline will encounter difficulty in advancing, especially in fleet renewal, without privatisation.

Destinations

Kuwait Airways is based at Kuwait International Airport; the airline flies 65 routes that serve 63 destinations, as of August 2023.

Codeshare agreements

Kuwait Airways has codeshare agreements with the following airlines:

Interline agreements

Kuwait Airways has interline agreements with the following airlines:

Fleet

Current fleet

As of October 2026, the Kuwait Airways fleet includes the following aircraft:

Incidents and accidents

Kuwait Airways Flight 032

On 30 June 1966, Kuwait Airways Flight KU32, a Hawker Siddeley Trident 1C, was operating a scheduled international flight from Beirut, Lebanon, to Kuwait City. The flight proceeded uneventfully until the descent phase. At 20:28 GMT, the aircraft was cleared to descend from FL300 to FL95 near the DY NDB, maintaining this altitude until passing the beacon at 20:39 GMT. The pilot-in-command elected to conduct a visual approach, and the crew reported sighting the airport’s rotating beacon and lights.

During the approach to Runway 33R, the aircraft was positioned six miles (9.7 km) from the airport at 2,300 feet (700 m) with an airspeed of 178 knots (330 km/h; 205 mph). The autopilot remained engaged, and the co-pilot was occupied with landing checks. The aircraft’s intended approach speed was 154 knots (285 km/h; 177 mph) with a (700 feet (210 m))/min descent rate, but it continued descending at (1,500 feet (460 m))/min. At 20:46 GMT, the aircraft impacted terrain approximately four km (2.5 mi) short of the runway threshold, slightly left of the centerline, at an elevation of 185 feet (56 m) feet.

The accident resulted from an unstable approach rate and failure to follow company regulations. The corrective action of calling for 10,500 rpm was insufficient to regain level flight, and a delayed power request was ineffective. The pilot-in-command did not follow approach procedures, with landing checks incomplete and an incorrect altimeter setting set during the incident, There were 72 passengers and 11 crew members on board with no deaths in the incident.

Kuwait Airways during the Iraqi Invasion of Kuwait

Kuwait Airways suffered blows during the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait, at least 15 aircraft were seized by Iraq and taken to be used by Iraqi Airways. The Revolutionary Command Council decided that the Kuwait Airways company would be dissolved and all its property would be transported to the Iraqi Airways Company. This made Kuwait Airways file two legal actions against Iraqi Airways, these legal actions would take almost 22 years to end and were only settled in 2017. An A310-300 and A300 were seized by Iraqi forces, repainted in the Iraqi Airways livery, and given new registrations by the Iraqi Directorate of Air Safety. Iraqi Airways started to prep the 2 planes for commercial services by regularly maintaining them. In July and August 1992, Iran returned six Toulouse-built jets to Kuwait Airways after Kuwait paid them $20 million for maintenance and storage. A pair of Tupolev Tu-124Vs, both G-IIIs, and one of the two BAe.125s were destroyed by coalition airstrikes during Operation Desert Storm. These planes ended up being written-off. Additionally, there was a Boeing 727 that was being used by Iraqi Airways before being ferried to Oman and later, returned to Kuwait after the war.

After the war Kuwait Airways sought to seek compensation for the lost planes, at first, Kuwait was seeking $1.2 billion. Iraq and Kuwait ended up settling on a deal that would see Iraq pay Kuwait $500 million. $300 million in cash and $200 million in a Kuwaiti-Iraqi airline venture.