Kuwait International Airport

Kuwait International Airport مطار الكويت الدولي
IATA: KWI ICAO: OKBK
Summary
Airport type	Public / Military
Operator	Directorate General of Civil Aviation
Serves	Kuwait City, Kuwait
Location	Farwaniya Governorate, Kuwait
Hub for	Kuwait Airways Jazeera Airways Wataniya Airways
Elevation AMSL	206 ft / 63 m
Coordinates	29°13′36″N 047°58′48″E / 29.22667°N 47.98000°E / 29.22667; 47.98000Coordinates: 29°13′36″N 047°58′48″E / 29.22667°N 47.98000°E / 29.22667; 47.98000
Website	http://www.dgca.gov.kw
Map
KWI Location of airport in Kuwait
Runways
Direction Length Surface m ft 15R/33L 3,400 11,155 Concrete 15L/33R 3,500 11,483 Asphalt
Statistics (2015)
Passengers 11,100,000
Sources:[1][2]

Kuwait International Airport (Arabic: مطار الكويت الدولي‎‎, IATA: KWI, ICAO: OKBK) is located in Farwaniya, Kuwait, 15.5 kilometers (9.6 mi) south of Kuwait City, spread over an area of 37.7 square kilometres (14.6 sq mi). It serves as hub for Jazeera Airways and Kuwait Airways. A portion of the airport complex is designated as Al Mubarak Air Base, which contains the headquarters of the Kuwait Air Force, as well as the Kuwait Air Force Museum.

Overview

The airport was first launched in the period of 1927-1928.^[3] It was originally envisioned as a stop for British planes on their way to British India. The main airport structure was executed and completed by Al Hani Construction joint venture with Ballast Nedam, The Netherlands.

The airport underwent a massive renovation and expansion project from 1999–2001, in which the former parking lot was cleared and a terminal expansion was built. This incorporated new check-in areas, a new entrance to the airport, the construction of a multi-story parking structure, and an airport mall.

Kuwait International Airport can currently handle more than nine million passengers a year. A new general aviation terminal was completed in 2008 under a BOT scheme and is operated by Royal Aviation. By the end of 2008, however, this terminal was modified to handle the scheduled services of now-defunct Wataniya Airways along with general aviation traffic. The terminal was renamed as Sheikh Saad Terminal.

In 2011 the Department of Civil Aviation announced the intention of extending Kuwait International Airport so it can handle more passengers and more aircraft. On October 3, 2011, the Directorate General of Civil Aviation announced that a new Foster + Partners-designed terminal will begin construction in 2012 and will increase the annual passenger handling amount to 13 million passengers in its first phase with the option of expanding to 25 million passengers. The airport finalized formalities for the construction of the terminal, which was due to begin construction in 2012 with completion by 2016. It would be built to the south of the current terminal complex with new access routes from the Seventh Ring Road to the south of the airport compound. It is designed as a three-pointed star, with each point extending 600 meters from the star's center. Two airside hotels will form part of the new building.

In December 2012, the Kuwaiti Ministry of Public Works announced that the new Terminal at the Kuwait International Airport would be completed by the end of 2016, estimating the cost to be around 900 million Kuwaiti Dinar ($3.2 billion). On May 20, 2013, the Director of Operations Management in the General Administration of Civil Aviation, Essam Al-Zamil, announced that some of the flights will be diverted to the Sheikh Saad Terminal instead of Kuwait Airport's main terminal starting in July due to the large number of passengers and the growing number of aircraft attributing to Kuwait Airport being over capacity. As of June 2014, the leading consortium to build the terminal had quit the project due to several reasons with construction having not started, placing the project on hold.^[4] The project was subsequently re-tendered twice over the course of 2014 and 2015 but had the winning tender cancelled both times.

On May 9, 2017, the Foster + Partners-designed Terminal 2 formally broke ground and heavy construction work began on site. The terminal is being built by Turkey's Limak Holding and was originally scheduled for completion in 6.5 years, although the contractors and Kuwaiti government have made claims to deliver the project within four years.

Military

The airport is home to the Al Mubarak Air Base which is used by the Kuwaiti Armed Forces and has been used by Italian Air Force Boeing KC-767A's since October 2014 for the fight against ISIL.^[5]

Facilities

The airport resides at an elevation of 204 feet (62 m) above mean sea level. It has two runways: 15R/33L with a concrete surface measuring 3,400 m × 46 m (11,155 ft × 151 ft) and 15L/33R with an asphalt surface measuring 3,500 m × 46 m (11,483 ft × 151 ft).^[1]

Airlines and destinations

Passenger

The following airlines offer scheduled passenger service:^[6][7]

Notes

• ^a Air India Express' flight from Mangalore makes a stop in Bahrain but the return flight to Mangalore is direct.
• ^b Kuwait Airways' flight to New York-JFK makes a stop in London Stansted.^[18] However, the return flight from JFK is direct. Kuwait Airways does not currently have local traffic rights between Kuwait and Stansted, and between Stansted and New York.

Cargo

Statistics

Departures area

2008 through 2015^[19][20]

Accidents and incidents

• On 25 August 1973, Douglas DC-6 belonging to Yemen Airlines was hijacked during a flight from Taiz to Asmara. After making a refueling stop in Djibouti, the aircraft was taken to Kuwait where the single hijacker surrendered.^[21]
• On 17 December 1973, a terrorist attack on Rome's Fiumicino Airport ended with the hijacking of a Lufthansa Boeing 737-100 that was preparing to depart to Munich. The aircraft was taken to Kuwait where the hijackers surrendered one day later.^[22]
• On 5 June 1977, Middle East Airlines Boeing 707 was hijacked during a flight from Beirut to Baghdad. The ordeal ended in Kuwait when the aircraft was stormed and the single hijacker was arrested.^[23]
• On 24 July 1980, two hijackers demanding money surrendered after hijacking a Kuwait Airways Boeing 737-200 during a flight from Beirut.^[24]
• On 2 August 1990, British Airways Flight 149 carrying 349 passengers landed at Kuwait International Airport just four hours after the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait, leading to the capture of the passengers and crew. The Boeing 747-100 aircraft was looted by the Iraqis and destroyed. All passengers and crew were reported safe. A McDonnell Douglas DC-9 belonging to the Kuwait Air Force was also destroyed in the airport. It is believed that during the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait many of the planes belonging to Kuwait Airways were stolen from the airport and stored in different locations in Iraq, some of which were later destroyed by allied bombings in 1991.
• On 25 February 1991, USMC McDonnell Douglas AV-8B Harrier II crash-landed after being hit by ground fire during the Kuwait Liberation War.^[25]
• On 27 February 1991, the airport played host to a large tank battle between U.S. and Iraqi forces during the 1st Gulf War. It is known today as the Battle of Kuwait International Airport.^[26]
• On 10 December 1999, three US military personnel died when a USAF Lockheed C-130 Hercules made a hard emergency landing at Kuwait International Airport after sustaining damage from landing short of the runway at nearby Jaber al-Ahmad Airbase.^[27]
• On 12 March 2007, a Lebanese-registered Saab 340A corporate aircraft owned by First Kuwaiti Trading & Contracting was badly damaged when it struck vehicles while taxiing.^[28]
• On 6 January 2014, disgruntled passengers on board a Turkish Airlines aircraft attacked cabin crew and opened aircraft door to prevent the aircraft from returning to Istanbul after it was diverted to Kuwait due to bad weather at original destination Basra.^[29]
• On 28 January 2014, a FlyNAS aircraft wrongly entered a construction area while taxiing which led to leaving paved surface and getting stuck in sand.^[30]

References

External links

Media related to Kuwait International Airport at Wikimedia Commons

• Kuwait International Airport (official site) (in English)
• Accident history for KWI at Aviation Safety Network
• Aeronautical chart for OKBK at SkyVector
• Current weather for OKBK at NOAA/NWS