Kuwait Airways chooses Airbus for new aircraft

Kuwait's state-owned Kuwait Airways has picked Airbus to provide new jets because its proposal was the best value for money, reports Reuters.

According to the report, Kuwait Airways would pay around 850 million dinars ($2.98 billion) for 25 new planes.

Analyst Saj Ahmad commented on this: “Kuwait Airways may well be spending money on new airplanes, but these will do little to help the business if the airline does not map out a plan to profitability.

“They only have to look at the neighbour and rival in Gulf Air to see that legacy Arab airlines do not have a right to exist - they have to compete and mix with the other big three (Emirates, Qatar Airways & Etihad) as well as the furious expansion seen by low cost airlines like Air Arabia and flydubai.”

Ahmad concluded: “Considering Kuwait Airways will have to wait until the turn of the decade to get the bulk of its new Airbus fleet, the carrier must make plans to integrate leased jets to tide them over. The current ageing fleet simply is not economical to run until that time while the airline is mired in painfully slow restructuring.”