Kuwait Airways

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Kuwait Airways

IATA KU	ICAO KAC	Callsign KUWAITI
Founded		1954
Hubs		Kuwait International Airport
Frequent flyer program		Oasis Club
Member lounge		Oasis Club
Fleet size		18
Destinations		37
Headquarters		Kuwait City, Kuwait
Key people		Shiekh Talal Mubarak Abdullah Al-Ahmad Al-Sabah (CEO)
Website: http://www.kuwait-airways.com

Kuwait Airways (Arabic: الخطوط الجوية الكويتية) is Kuwait's national and international airline and is wholly owned by the Kuwaiti Government. It operates scheduled services throughout the Middle East and to Europe, the Far East and North America. Its main base is Kuwait International Airport in Kuwait City. Kuwait Airways is a member of the Arab Air Carriers Organization.

1 History
- 1.1 Hijackings in the 1980s
2 Services
3 Fleet
4 External links
5 References

[edit] History

Kuwait Airways Boeing 777

The airline was conceived in February 1953 by two Kuwaiti businessmen and was established in March 1954. It started operations on 16 March 1954 as Kuwait National Airways. The current name was established in 1958, and that year saw a modernization of the fleet. In the 1970s, the airline further expanded its routes to include flights within the Middle East.

The airline was heavily affected by the Gulf War with many planes having to leave due to the invasion. During the occupation, operations were transferred to Bahrain. The carrier, however, flew a free Kuwait Airways service on the Bombay-Bahrain-Cairo-London route in a modified livery with a B727. Bahrain served as operational headquarters during the occupation. The aftermath of the war saw a change in composition of fleet. In 2005, Kuwait Airways signed an agreement with Sabre Airline Solutions giving Kuwait Airways full access to a modernized planning and crew optimizing portfolio.

While Kuwait Airways was the first airline created by an Arab state in the Persian Gulf, today it is finding it very difficult to compete with emerging neighboring airlines such as Qatar Airways and Emirates that provide exceptional services.

[edit] Hijackings in the 1980s

During the Iran-Iraq War, Kuwait Airways was the target of two hijackings. [1] The first was in 1984, when two Lebanese Shi'a gunmen diverted a flight to Tehran. The stand-off took 6 days but finally Iranian security officers dressed as staff overpowered the hijackers.

In 1988 a Kuwait Airways Boeing was hijacked and diverted to Algiers while on its way to Kuwait from Bangkok. The hijacking lasted 16 days and ended with a Naval Officer from the Kuwaiti Royal Family being killed and another Kuwaiti military person. The Algerian authorities allowed the hijackers to escape and asked for the remainder of the 110 people aboard to be set free.

Kuwait Airways and Bangkok would be linked again historically in 2006: They were the final flight scheduled to depart the old Don Muang Airport at 2:50am on September 28 that year (in actuality, a Qantas flight originally scheduled for 6pm the previous day left 10 minutes after the Kuwait flight due to delays).