About Kuwait Airways

In the wake of the oil boom of the 1940s, the petroleum-rich countries of the Middle East gradually began to build a transportation infrastructure in the region. A group of private investors launched Kuwait National Airways Co. Ltd., which in its first year offered service linking Kuwait to a handful of Mideast cities, including Abadan, Beirut, Damascus and Jerusalem. In the mid-1950s Jerusalem was a divided city, with its western half held by Israel and its eastern sector in Jordan.

After barely a year of operation, the airline ran into financial difficulty, but in 1955 the government of Kuwait took a 50 percent interest in the airline, doubling its capital and renaming it Kuwait Airways. In 1962 Kuwait took full control of the airline, making it the country's official state airline.

Kuwait Airways joined the jet age in the early 1960s when it began flying the Comet 4-C, an aircraft manufactured by Britain's de Haviland Aircraft Company Ltd. and the world's first commercial jet-powered airliner. Later in the 1960s the airline began to expand, launching service to London and beginning to fly to more points in the Middle East. By the end of the 1970s, however, Kuwait Airways was flying an all-Boeing fleet. In 1978 it added its first two wide-bodied jets, Boeing 747-200s. This addition of longer range aircraft enabled Kuwait Airways to expand its service network on a grander scale---from New York on the west to Manila on the east.

The setback suffered by the airline after Iraq occupied Kuwait posed a major challenge. By mid-1990, before the Iraqi invasion, Kuwait Airways served more than 40 countries worldwide. However, with virtually all of its fleet destroyed, the airline faced a major challenge in getting back on its feet.

By the end of the first decade of the 2000s, Kuwait Airways was on its way back into private hands after years of control by the government of Kuwait. Eventually the government hopes to sell 80 percent of the airline to private investors, retaining a share of less than 25 percent in the company. Although its fleet totaled fewer than 20 planes in 2009, Kuwait Airways officials laid out an ambitious plan for expansion, which includes a sharp increase in the number of aircraft it flies and a big increase in its service network.