Kuwait Airways

Is Kuwait Airways safe?

Yes, on its own record. Kuwait's state airline has flown since the 1950s without a fatal accident caused by its own operation, and its fleet is now built around new Airbus neo jets and Boeing 777-300ERs. We score it 83, a little above Gulf Air (79) and just below Oman Air (84).

The weak point in 2026 is where it flies from. Kuwait shut its airspace for eight weeks after the war with Iran began on 28 February, drones struck Kuwait International Airport twice, and EASA still advises European airlines to avoid the Gulf waters around Kuwait except to land or take off.

Has Kuwait Airways had any fatal accidents?

No accident has killed anyone on a Kuwait Airways flight. The Aviation Safety Network database lists one aircraft lost in flight while Kuwait Airways operated it: a Hawker Siddeley Trident that crash-landed 3.5 miles short of the runway at Kuwait in June 1966. All 83 people survived. Investigators blamed a high rate of descent on the approach and a failure to follow company rules.

In the last 20 years the airline has one event in the database. On 6 January 2018 a Kuwait Airways 777-300ER was parked on a remote stand at New York JFK when a China Southern 777 under tow hit its tail with a wingtip. The tail, stabilisers and auxiliary power unit were badly damaged and later repaired; no one was hurt. Ground handlers had parked the Kuwaiti jet short of its stop mark so the forward hold could be unloaded, and the taxiway behind it was closed because the tail stuck out over it. The tow was routed along that taxiway anyway. No Kuwait Airways crew was moving an aircraft, so we do not hold the event against the airline.

The hijackings and the 1990 invasion

The deaths in Kuwait Airways' history were caused by attacks, not accidents. We describe them here but leave them out of the accident score, as we do for every airline.

• December 1984. Four hijackers took over an A300 after a stop in Dubai and forced it to Tehran. They killed two American passengers and beat others over six days before Iranian security forces stormed the aircraft.
• April 1988, flight KU422. Nine men hijacked a Boeing 747 flying from Bangkok to Kuwait. Over 16 days it went to Mashhad, Larnaca and finally Algiers. The hijackers killed two passengers at Larnaca and freed the last 32 hostages in Algeria.
• August 1990. Iraqi forces occupying Kuwait seized ten Kuwait Airways aircraft. Two 767s and two A300s flown to Mosul were destroyed there by coalition bombing in early 1991.

These events are more than 35 years old and tell you little about flying the airline today.

What does Kuwait Airways fly?

Its April 2026 schedules used only five types: the A320neo, A321neo, A330-800neo and A330-900neo, and the Boeing 777-300ER. The A330-900 joined at the end of 2024 and flew to London, Mumbai and Kochi after the airline restarted. The 777s are about ten years old, and Kuwait Airways has not published an average fleet age. Its Airbus order, revised in 2022, covered 31 aircraft, including two A350-900s, with 23 still to arrive by the end of 2028. We could not confirm whether any older A320ceo or A330-200 aircraft are still in service.

Which incidents are on its record?

The serious ones are few. In August 2018 an A330-200 landing at Kochi in India veered left in sudden heavy rain, hit several runway edge lights and returned to the centre line; the wheels were replaced and no one was hurt. In September 2025 a 777 flying to London lost contact with air traffic control over Germany for more than an hour, and the German air force sent two fighters to intercept it before contact was restored. The crew said they had not turned the cockpit speakers back up.

The rest of the list is the usual run of technical returns: cabin pressure faults on A320s in 2017 and 2018, cargo smoke warnings and bird strikes. We found no regulator fines or groundings. Kuwait publishes few investigation reports in English, so this record leans on foreign reports and news.

Is it safe to fly through Kuwait during the Iran conflict?

The airport has been hit, and you should plan for disruption. Kuwait's civil aviation authority closed the airspace on 28 February 2026. That evening a drone struck Terminal 1, causing minor injuries to several employees and limited damage, the authority said. Kuwait Airways ran a handful of flights to London, Cairo and Istanbul from Dammam in Saudi Arabia in March and April, then restarted 17 routes from Terminal 4 on 26 April, after the airspace reopened on 23 April.

On 3 June, drones and missiles struck Terminal 1 again, killing one person according to AP, and the authority activated the airport emergency plan. Three days later Kuwait closed its airspace overnight during another attack, and 11 Kuwait Airways and Jazeera Airways flights diverted to nearby airports. EASA's bulletin CZIB-2026-07R3, valid to 16 November 2026, covers the Kuwait FIR. The Kuwait country page follows the wider situation.

Weather adds its own problems. On 13 November 2025, dense fog at Kuwait sent seven Kuwaiti airliners to Basra in Iraq, and summer dust storms cut visibility too.

Flying Kuwait Airways: practical points

• Check the terminal. Kuwait Airways uses Terminal 4, while Terminal 1 has been damaged twice in 2026.
• Check your flight on the morning you travel. Kuwaiti airspace can close for hours at short notice during attacks.
• Allow for long rebooking times. When the airspace shut in February, the airline needed eight weeks to fly from home again.

How we scored it

The accident record (93) is free of deaths from accidents, and the fleet (86) is made of current types. Oversight (80) reflects FAA Category 1FAA IASAThe US FAA's check of whether a country's aviation regulator meets ICAO standards. Category 1 means it does; Category 2 means it does not.More in the glossary and IOSAIOSAThe IATA Operational Safety Audit, an international audit of an airline's safety management and operations. Every IATA member must pass it.More in the glossary, held down because Kuwait publishes few investigation reports. Incidents (78) are few but include a runway edge-light strike and a long loss of radio contact. The operating environment (48) is the weakest factor because of the long closure and strikes on the airport in 2026. Overall 83.